


It Should've Been You

by arysa13



Category: Total Drama
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, F/M, Romance, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-03-07 16:46:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 53,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arysa13/pseuds/arysa13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where a mark appears on your chest when you meet your soulmate, Courtney thinks the whole idea is stupid and would rather focus on other things... like winning one hundred thousand dollars. That is until she meets hers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Marks

It was a fact of life that from the moment you were born, your soulmate would be discussed everyday of your life. When you met your soulmate a pattern of sorts would appear on your chest above your heart. A tattoo like mark that was unique to everyone. Then, when you kissed the person who was your soulmate, the black marks would fill with colour. And the idea of finding ones soulmate consumed everybody. The whole world was desperate to find that one person they were destined for. Every one that is, except for Courtney Castillo.

            For the first thirteen years of her life she was enamoured by the idea of finding a soulmate. Her parents were soulmates, some of her friends had already met theirs. But at thirteen, her parents divorced.

            “I don’t understand!” a thirteen year old Courtney had cried to her mother. “You’re _soulmates_. Doesn’t that outweigh everything else in the whole world?”

            Her mother looked down onto her daughters tear stained face and she sighed.

            “I wish it did,” she said with a sad smile. And so, it was at thirteen that Courtney figured out soulmates didn’t really mean anything. It was a hard lesson for her to learn, and she learnt it a lot earlier than most of her friends, but she learnt it none the less. She figured if you could spend your whole life looking for someone, and then find them, and _know_ for certain they were the one, from the way your marks lit up when you kissed them, only to have them leave you anyway, then what was the point? She knew then that she was better off focusing on her studies, and getting a good career. Other people only got in her way anyway. She would use them to her advantage but never run the risk of getting attached to anyone. Not even her soulmate. No, _especially_ not her soulmate.

-

            Fast forward three years and Courtney stepped off a boat onto a dock, where she greeted twenty other teenagers that she was ready to defeat in order to win $100000. She acted sweet and nice, of course. She was going to need to form alliances at some point in order to make it to the end. But she knew from watching thirteen seasons of Survivor as research that a strong player’s greatest downfall was almost always being too trusting. So her game plan was to trust no one and never take off the prize.

            They were placed in their teams. She knew right away she didn’t like any of them. _You don’t have to like them,_ she reminded herself, _you just have to pretend to._

            “Alright campers! It’s time for the first challenge,” Chris McLean announced. “Get into your swimsuits and meet me on top of the cliff!”

            In the cabin, Courtney tried her best not to be snappy at the extremely annoying girls who were dressed exactly alike. Katie and Sadie, she remembered, though she hadn’t a clue which was which. Then there was Eva, and frankly she was down right scary, even to Courtney, who was afraid of nothing. And then there was Bridgette, who seemed… normal? Only time would tell.

            She was dressed in her swimsuit and about to leave the cabin when Sadie… (or Katie was it?) stopped her.

            “Oh my god, Courtney, who’s your soulmate?” she shrieked excitedly.

            “I don’t…” Courtney started, looking down at her chest, where Sadie was staring. Courtney eyes widened when she saw the black swirls peeking out from her bikini top. “Oh no. That wasn’t there before,” she said, trying not to panic.

            “Ohmygod Courtney, that means your soulmate is on this island!” Sadie gushed. “This is so exciting! We can help you figure out who it is! We’ll just look and see who else has the marks.”

            “But you guys have them too,” Courtney said, noticing Katie and Sadie’s spiralling tattoos, almost identical to each other.

            “Oh but we’ve had them forever!” Katie explained.

            “We’re each others soulmate!” Sadie squealed.

            “This soulmate business is getting on my nerves! Get out of my way!” Eva growled, pushing past the girls and outside.

            “Wow, she is like, so mean,” Sadie sniffed.

            “So mean. It’s just because she doesn’t have one,” Katie agreed. She and Sadie then followed Eva outside. Courtney groaned and futilely tried to rub off the marks that had evidently appeared the moment she’d stepped on the dock.

            _It doesn’t matter,_ she told herself. _You don’t have to do anything about it. It’s just a pretty mark for all you care._ But deep down she did care. Some part of her had assumed that if she didn’t _want_ a soulmate, she wouldn’t get one. She had honestly thought she’d never have to worry about the marks. But now that they were there… her twelve year old self came bubbling to the surface, excited by the idea of finding someone to love for the rest of her life. She quickly squashed the notion. Soulmates were stupid.

            “You’re not the only one,” Bridgette said to her as they left the cabin together.

            “What are you talking about?” Courtney asked her.

            “I got one today too,” Bridgette confided. It wasn’t visible as she was wearing a wetsuit, but Bridgette seemed to be genuine. For a moment Courtney wondered if Bridgette was her soulmate. That wouldn’t be so bad. She wasn’t attracted to the girl but maybe that would be better.

            It soon became apparent when they reached the top of the cliff that almost everyone had their marks already. It wasn’t possible to tell whose had appeared that day and who had had there’s already, but it seemed that most of them were still black, which meant that if they did know who their soulmate was, they had yet to make a move.

            Courtney glanced around at the other campers, wondering who it could possibly be that had caused this fungus (because that’s what she’s decided it was) to grow on her chest. Not Katie or Sadie or Eva, obviously. Bridgette was still a possibility. Of the boys on her team, four of them were sporting marks. Tyler, Duncan Geoff and Harold if she remembered their names correctly. She prayed it was none of them.

            The prospects on the other team were not much better though. Of the girls, Courtney could see that Gwen and Lindsay both had marks, and of the boys Trent and Cody were the only ones. Judging by only looks, Courtney was hoping Trent or Tyler would be the one who turned out to be her soulmate. Neither of them were exactly the kind of man she would picture herself with, but they were better than all the others.

            Her thoughts were interrupted by some gross punk, saying something about ladies going first. If he thought there was any way she was jumping off this cliff, he had another think coming. Courtney cursed herself for letting herself get distracted. This soulmate thing was getting to her head and throwing her off her game already. She knew as soon as possible she had to find out who it was and get them eliminated. But until then she quickly sized up the other team (and this time _not_ for potential soulmates) and quickly decided there was no way all of them were going to jump off the cliff.

            She was wrong, unfortunately, and the Killer Bass lost the challenge. It _wasn’t_ her fault, she was adamant. And she needed to convince the rest of the team of that before it was too late.

 _Duncan,_ that ogre, of course was trying to convince everyone to get rid of her. And he found the need to call her _princess_ constantly. Was it possible that he was the most annoying human being she’d ever met? On the plus side, that probably meant he certainly wasn’t her soulmate, so that narrowed down her search. That left the possibilities of Harold, Geoff, Tyler or Bridgette on her team. And she still had to convince them not to vote her off.

            “So who would you pick?” Bridgette asked flatly. Okay this was it…

            “What about… him?” she pointed at Tyler (the one she figured was the most likely candidate).

            “No!” there was a shout from the other table. Lindsay was standing up looking stricken. She started mumbling something about there being no salt on the table, but Courtney wasn’t fooled. Lindsay liked Tyler, which meant there was a strong possibility that she and Tyler were soulmates. After all, they both had marks. Courtney sighed. She was no closer to finding her soulmate or to convincing her team not to vote her off. That was until Ezekiel happened to make some extremely sexist remarks.

-

            Courtney thanked her lucky stars as a marshmallow was thrown her way at the campfire ceremony that night. She blamed her lack of concentration on the game for her near miss. No more thinking about soulmates. No more getting distracted. She’d eliminate every possible soulmate and then she wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.

            She walked back to the cabin with more determination than ever.

            “It actually suits you, you know,” a voice behind her laughed. She spun around and scowled when she saw who it was.

            “Duncan!” she cursed, pulling the chicken hat from her head.

            “Lighten up, princess, it’s just a game,” he grinned.

            “Don’t call me that,” Courtney snapped.

            “See you tomorrow,” he winked and walked into his cabin. Courtney watched him go, feeling a sinking in her stomach, and all of a sudden Duncan was back in her list. 


	2. A Nightmare Dressed Like a Daydream

            “So who do you think it is?” Geoff asked Duncan that night in the cabin.

            “I dunno man,” Duncan replied. “I don’t care that much.”

            “Mine’s Bridgette,” Geoff sighed dreamily. “I’m sure of it.”

            “If you say so,” Duncan chuckled.

            “I can’t wait to figure out who mine is,” Harold informed them.

            “No one asked you, dorkwad,” Duncan snorted.

            “You guys are so lucky,” DJ said with a sigh. “I don’t have my mark yet.”

            “Lucky?” Duncan repeated incredulously. “This thing is a curse,” he said, gesturing to the winding lines on his chest.

            “How so?” DJ enquired.

            “It’s just this burden of a mark that some chick will eventually use an excuse as to why I can’t leave her,” he scoffed. “Who wants to be tied down like that?” he shook his head as he slipped into bed.

            “Maybe you’re right,” DJ considered Duncan’s words.

            “You’re pathetic Duncan, true love could be just a cabin away and you’re too afraid to reach for it,” Harold said knowingly.

            “If you don’t shut up I’m going to shove my fist down your throat, got it?” Duncan threatened. Harold gulped, sliding under his covers and shutting his mouth in fear.

            “I dunno man, I reckon Harold could be right. My soulmate is waiting for me. I’ve just got to make her see me,” Geoff said determinedly.

            “I’m pretty sure Lindsay’s my soulmate,” Tyler interjected.

            “No one cares. Now go to sleep!” Duncan demanded. They turned out the lights and Duncan lay there in the dark, thinking about what Geoff and Harold had said. Sure, Duncan liked to talk big, but there was a part of him that really wanted to know who on the island was apparently his soulmate. He couldn’t really remember which of the girls had had marks, but if Geoff and Tyler were right about theirs, that crossed out two of the hottest chicks on the island.

            He only wished he could pinpoint the exact moment the mark appeared. Why was there not some kind of burning or something to warn him it had appeared? His soulmate could be any of the girls.

_Not Lindsay or Bridgette,_ he thought. _That leaves, Katie, Sadie, Courtney, Eva, Heather, Leshawna, Gwen, Izzy and Beth._ As long as it wasn’t Eva, he was pretty sure he’d be okay.

-

After the Awake-a-thon Duncan thought he had narrowed it down even further. He crossed Gwen off his list, because he could see her cosying up to Trent. He also crossed off Katie and Sadie because it appeared they were each others soulmates, though they’d never kissed so their marks were still black. He also decided it couldn’t be Eva or Beth because frankly they were just too ugly. Eva went home that night anyway, as it became apparent that she was freaking insane.

-

It was the day of their third challenge and Courtney had successfully managed to avoid elimination for the second time. However, she was still no closer to figuring out who her soulmate was. She had really wanted to get rid of one of the boys, to narrow down the risk, but with Eva’s terrible temper it was unanimous that she had to go. _Note to self,_ Courtney told herself, _do not lose your temper._  

She had still yet to make any alliances and with her team’s numbers slowly dwindling she was losing hope fast. It didn’t help that the rest of her team were totally useless. Duncan was the only one on her team who’d come close to winning the last challenge, and now he’d decided he would rather have a little nap than play today’s challenge. _How is it people always seem to let you down when you need them the most?_

Things were going terrible. Tyler had finally managed to get someone out, only to then immediately go out himself and then completely disappear! Where was he anyway? And how was it that someone as idiotic as Owen happened to be so good at throwing balls?

“Hey! How does it feel to suck so much?” Heather yelled from her team’s side of the court.

“Not very good…” Harold replied sadly.

“It’s not over yet!” Courtney yelled back, faking a confidence she didn’t feel. They were so going to lose. Unless she came up with a plan, and fast. She glanced at Duncan. He had warned them not to wake him. But as much as she loathed to admit it, he may be the only one who could help them win this challenge. She just needed to get the rest of the team to agree to it, and then get someone to wake him up (she sure as hell wasn’t going to do it) (not that she was scared of him) (she just didn’t want to touch him).

“We need someone strong. Someone mean! Someone who will crush those lame-o Gophers into the dirt!” Courtney declared. She hated that she had to say these things about Duncan, but after all they were actually true. Especially if the way the rest of her team looked at his sleeping form after she’d finished was any indication.

She managed to convince them that they needed to wake him up, but no one wanted to actually be the one to do it. She sighed as she suggested her next idea.

-

_Duncan_ _took a sip from the fruity cocktail he had in his hand. The sun was beating down on his face and he closed his eyes beneath his sunglasses, soaking up the rays.. He had won the hundred thousand dollars and was relaxing by a pool, totally alone, far away from that godforsaken island and the ridiculous people.  Just the way he liked it. But then there was someone walking towards him. Great, just when he thought everything was perfect, someone had to come along and ruin it._

_But then again, he thought as he lowered his sunglasses to get a better look, he wasn’t going to complain about the sexy bikini clad figure that approached him. Even if it happened to be that bossy know it all princess, Courtney. Wait, Courtney? But she was so irritating! She was hot though… especially now as she came towards him with seduction in her eyes and her hips swayed and she licked her lips. Duncan sat up when Courtney reached him, pulling his sunglasses from his face and squinting up at her._

_“What are you doing here, princess?” he asked her._

_“I think you know,” she whispered back, smirking at him. Duncan’s heart pounded and his breath caught in his throat as she sank her knees onto the pool lounger, between his legs, and leant in and started… poking him?_

Poke, poke, poke. Duncan opened his eyes. He was half disappointed and half relieved that it had only been a dream, but he was one hundred per cent angry that someone had dared to wake him up. He snapped the stick that his so called team mates had woken him up with.

“You better have a really good reason for sticking this up my nose,” Duncan said to Harold menacingly. He was the easiest target after all. But then the subject of his dreams barged in front of him, explaining that their team was losing and that they needed his help. Damn, why was this chick so hot? _Keep it cool, Duncan,_ he told himself, _Don’t let her know what she does to you._

“Oh, and why should I help you, _darling?_ ” he sneered. _Nailed it._

“Because, I can personally guarantee you, that if we lose this game, _you’ll_ be the one going home. _Darling,_ ” she replied snarkily, her face inches from his. God, that was hot. Wait, no it wasn’t. It was stupid and annoying and he was pretty sure he’d do anything she wanted him to. No! Ugh, what the heck. Alright, how to agree to this without making it look like she had any power over him. He paused for a moment like he was thinking about it.

“Fine, I’ll play,” he said with a sigh. Courtney smiled, obviously pleased at her victory. _Stop doing that,_ Duncan thought as his stomach flipped over. What was happening to him? “On one condition,” he continued, trying to ignore the weird feelings he was having, “you do what I say, when I say it.” Courtney nodded. Well that was surprisingly easy.

He began informing the team about what their strategy was going to be, and his sudden weird infatuation with Courtney seemed to leave him as he got his head in the game. Why was he dreaming about Courtney anyway? She was more like a nightmare. Although it was pretty hot how competitive she was, and he was impressed at how well she threw the ball.

-

As it turned out, waking up Duncan turned out to be an excellent idea. They thrashed the Gophers in the next game and Courtney actually began to enjoy herself. During the next game she noticed Heather disappear and when she came back again she had a tragic looking Lindsay with her. Immediately noticeable were the marks on Lindsay’s chest which were no longer black, but glowing red.  Tyler walked in only a few seconds later. Courtney narrowed her eyes. It was obvious to her where he had Lindsay had been, and if she was right, his chest would be glowing too.

She confronted him about it angrily, but she wasn’t totally sure if she was annoyed at him because he’d been with Lindsay or because he had found his soulmate and she still hadn’t. After all, she knew really that Lindsay wasn’t clever enough to get Tyler to spill all their teams weaknesses to her. She was the dumbest girl on the planet.

Courtney shook off her weird insecurities and thought about the positives. They were now even with the Gophers and whoever won the next game would win the challenge. And wouldn’t have to send someone home. And Courtney very much intended for that team to be her team. Of course Harold wanted to play, but he was the _worst._ He’d done enough damage by snoring all night and keeping everyone awake.

But then all of a sudden, he was standing there alone and he was their only hope. Courtney could hardly bare to watch.

Somewhow, Harold managed to catch the ball and get Owen out. The Bass had won their first challenge, and Courtney knew it was all thanks to her. She was finally proving that she was an asset to the team, instead of just continuously saying it. And now they didn’t have to send anyone home.

The Bass walked back to their cabins and Courtney looked over to see Duncan staring at her. She nodded at him, silently thanking him for helping their team win. He nodded back, a troubled look in his eye, like he was trying to solve a difficult problem, before turning away and heading into his own cabin.


	3. Disgusting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip in the woods has tensions high.

Courtney sat with her team on a wooden stump where the campfire ceremony usually took place. It was time for their fifth challenge and she was ready to go. Somehow they’d managed to win their second challenge, and she was on top of the world. She glanced at Harold as Chris talked, wondering if she’d underestimated him. He had helped them win two challenges in a row after all, and now she thought she may have been a little hasty in removing him from her list of potential soulmates. However, just as the thought crossed her mind she saw him pick his nose and she knew she’d been right all along. Harold was definitely not her soulmate.

She turned her attention back to Chris as he explained the days challenge. All they had to do was spend a night in the woods. That should be easy enough, Courtney was a CIT after all, she was practically an expert on the subject.

Chris threw a map and a compass to each team and somehow _Duncan_ (who she had gone back to hating after she’d discovered his only talent was carving a picture of his own skull into a tree) (which didn’t really count as a talent in her opinion anyway) managed to catch them mid-air, before she could do anything about it. She gave him a glare and was about to protest that she should be in charge of the map and compass since _she_ was a CIT and his only qualification was that he was a qualified criminal, seeing as he had been to juvie. And that was _not_ something to be proud of.

 But Chris was still talking so Courtney didn’t get the chance to complain. Instead she just snatched the map from the delinquent’s hand aggressively. Duncan just rolled his eyes and folded his arms sulkily.

-

When Chris told them they could go, Courtney began to lead her team expertly to their camp ground. Duncan, however, wasn’t having any of it. There was no way he was putting his faith in _Courtney_ being able to lead them there, so while Chris wasn’t looking he swiped a spare map from Chris’s back pocket. His own team had already taken off, but he knew he could catch up easily and just pretend he’d been there the whole time. After studying the map and figuring out where he had to go, he slipped the map back in Chris’s pocket (the host hadn’t even noticed it was missing) and caught up to the rest of the Bass. They seemed to be down two team members but since it was Katie and Sadie Duncan couldn’t really see the problem.

“Where have you been?” Geoff asked him when he caught up.

“Making sure we win. Did I miss anything?” Duncan asked. “Anyone notice I was gone?”

“No,” Geoff shook his head. “Courtney was too busy playing tour guide.” Duncan scowled, weirdly annoyed that she hadn’t even noticed he was missing. That just proved she wasn’t observant enough to lead the team. The two boys walked in silence for a moment.

“Hey, Duncan?” Geoff asked.

“Mmm?” Duncan replied.

“You’re like… experienced with girls and stuff, right?” Geoff asked.

“Well, yeah… I mean kinda,” Duncan shrugged. He’d had a couple of girlfriends before he went to juvie, but there wasn’t much opportunity for dating at an all boys prison facility.

“How can I get Bridgette to notice me?” Geoff enquired, looking a little hopeless.

“That’s easy, bro,” Duncan told him. “You’ve just got to compliment her.”

“Like, tell her she looks pretty?” Geoff wondered.

“Nah, not with Bridgette. That would work on Lindsay probably but Bridgette is the kind of girl who wants to be complimented on her skills, not her looks,” Duncan said wisely.

“Okay…” Geoff nodded nervously. Duncan sighed.

“Just, when we get there, tell her she’d really good at something,” Duncan instructed. “Got it?”

“Got it,” Geoff nodded again, more confidently this time. Duncan shook his head in amusement, wondering how the guy could be such a people person, yet so rubbish at talking to girls.

-

 

The rest of the journey went off without so much as a hitch, and once they reached their camping spot Courtney got them all doing jobs. She was pleased to see everyone had accepted her as their leader without much complaining. It was obvious that she was the most competent one of the group. She’d given herself, Geoff and Bridgette the task of setting up the tent, Duncan and Harold were on fire duty, DJ was out looking for food, Tyler was seeing what supplies were in their pack, and Katie and Sadie were… nowhere to be found. Well, good riddance, those two girls we’re almost as dumb as Lindsay.

“Wow, you pitch a tent like a guy!” she overheard Geoff say to Bridgette as the three of them put the tent up. He had admiration in his voice but his words were less than flattering. It was clear Geoff was trying to flirt with Bridgette but his sexist remark made Courtney cringe and she knew Bridgette would in no way be flattered or impressed. It seemed to Courtney that Geoff thought he and Bridgette were soulmates, they both had marks after all. But if he kept up his awkward flirting style he’d never get the chance to find out.

“What’s for dinner, woman?” came an amused voice from behind her. “I’m starving!” Courtney turned and scowled at Duncan. It was obvious he knew what he was saying was offensive to women, but his chest was puffed out and he had a cocky look on his face like he had just made the most hilarious joke of all time. Courtney didn’t doubt that he was purposefully trying to antagonise her, but she wasn’t going to let him get to her. She couldn’t believe she’d thought for one second that this gross Neanderthal was a possibility for her soulmate.

“I hope you don’t expect me to dignify that with a response,” she said haughtily. Duncan just continued to look at her smugly. Ugh, what was it with that guy that made her want to slap him across the face? But at the same time he looked kind of hot with that smirk permanently plastered on his face, and his blue eyes staring at her like she was something he wanted to devour. She shivered involuntarily. She was spared the gruelling task of having to figure out what she was feeling by DJs voice coming across the clearing.

“Hey guys, look what I found!” he holds a rabbit out in front of him. It soon became apparent that he did not intend to kill and skin the rabbit to eat, but to keep it as a pet.

“You couldn’t find any food?” Courtney asked in exasperation. It had been his only job after all. It seemed he couldn’t even manage that. Just as she had thought, her entire team was useless. She sighed dramatically. “Then it looks like we’re eating grubs and berries for dinner.” The thought didn’t appeal to her but it was better than nothing, right?

“Has anyone seen Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Idiot?” Duncan asked. Courtney forced herself not to smile at the words. She did _not_ think Duncan was funny.

“Who cares?” she snorted instead. “We’re better off without them anyway.”

“I’m not gonna argue with that,” Duncan said. Courtney looked at him suspiciously. Were they actually agreeing on something? “What?” Duncan asked, seeing her staring at him.

“Nothing,” she shook her head. “Hurry up and finish building the fire.”

-

Duncan had witnessed Geoff’s terrible attempt at flirting with Bridgette. How did he manage to screw up a compliment so bad? Duncan knew he had to help the guy out some more, so when the rest of the group were sitting around the fire, Duncan and Geoff went into the woods to “pee”.

“Dude, girls are so confusing!” Geoff complained.

“No, you’re just an idiot,” Duncan pointed out. Geoff looked sulky but he didn’t argue. “Look, just leave her alone for a while and try again later when she’s forgotten what an oaf you are.”

“Do you have to be so mean about it?” Geoff whined.

“Tough love, my friend,” Duncan chuckled. “Look, I have an idea,” Duncan proposed. “I’ll tell a scary story and then hopefully Bridgette will get scared and need someone to comfort her. AKA; you. She’ll probably be running into your arms.” Geoff nodded and the two headed back and sat with the others around the campfire.

Somewhere in the distance an owl hooted and Duncan felt Bridgette jump beside him. Pathetic. This was going to be so easy.

“Be cool, it’s just an owl,” DJ assured her.

“Sorry. I just get really freaked out in the forest,” Bridgette admitted.

“This reminds of this really scary story I heard once,” Duncan said casually. His plan was to help Geoff but he bet he could even scare Miss No-Nonsense Courtney. That would show her.

“Awesome! Tell it man!” Geoff encouraged. Duncan grinned at him.

“Are you sure? ‘Cause the story I’m thinking of is pretty hardcore,” Duncan said doubtfully. Across the fire he saw Courtney roll her eyes.

“Ooh, we’re so scared!” she said sarcastically. Duncan smirked to himself. Now it would be so much better when he scared her out of her wits. She thought she was so tough, but he’d show her.

“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said nonchalantly. He grinned menacingly and began his story. He built to the climax of the story, getting really into it and adding dramatic pauses to create tension. He could tell the rest of his team were on the edge of their seats, hanging on his every word as he told them the story of the bloody hook. Everyone had looks of terror on their faces and he would have laughed out loud if he wasn’t so committed to the story.

“They say… that this killer is still alive… wandering these very woods. He could be just about anywhere really… maybe even right… here!” he shouted the last word and pulled out a hook, sending the rest of his team into screams of horror. He burst into laughter at their reaction, unable to hold back any longer. They were all so gullible!

“Duncan! That was so NOT funny!” Courtney shouted, her voice still quivering slightly from the fright he’d given her. Duncan smiled smugly. He thought it was very funny actually and scaring Courtney was the best bit.

“Oh yes it was!” he chortled. “I just wish it was all on camera! Oh wait, it is!” He doubled over into fits of laughter again, so he missed Courtney shooting daggers at him.

“You are so vile!” Courtney spat. “Do your parents even like you?”

“I don’t know, Jumpy McChicken! I haven’t asked them lately,” he said, not caring about her insults at all. He’d gotten to her and she couldn’t deny it and he was having too much fun rubbing it in to be worried about her lame attempt at offending him. He was about to tell her how hilarious her face looked when he’d revealed the hook, but he was interrupted by a long howl of a wolf somewhere off in the night, and suddenly the girl he’d just been mocking was in his arms, her body shivering. Duncan didn’t know if it was from the cold or from fear, but either way, he felt a strong urge to comfort her.

From across the fire he saw Geoff put his thumb up. Okay, so Duncan’s plan had worked, but not on the girl he’d intended it to work on. But he wasn’t exactly complaining, holding Courtney felt really nice. Of course, if any of the guys mentioned it he would just say he was trying to get into her pants. Duncan didn’t have feelings, and definitely not towards spoilt type-A princesses.

-

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly her proudest moment, but she’d screamed when Duncan told his story. She was annoyed at him, but she was more annoyed at herself for falling for it. And now the dumb story had her on edge, even when she was cursing him and throwing insults at him. He didn’t seem to care however.

What was worse than her scream though, was the fact that she’d practically dived into his arms when she’d heard that wolf howl. _How embarrassing._ But the worst thing of all was that she liked being his in arms so much that she’d stayed there _a lot_ longer than necessary. Her heart was pounding, and with each beat she felt her whole chest ache, like her heart wanted to burst out of her chest and attach itself to Duncan. She hoped that didn’t mean what she thought it meant. She was sure Duncan could feel it, but she hoped he put it down to fear and adrenaline, rather than attraction. God, was it attraction? Is that why she was thinking about his strong arms and firm chest right now instead of whether or not she might be eaten alive by wolves?

Knowing she’d been in his arms longer than the time it would still have been believable to say it was just an unconscious reaction to a potential threat, she extricated herself from his grasp. She opened her mouth to say something, a witty remark, a cutting statement, but nothing came. Instead she just turned on her heel and strode quickly into the woods, claiming she had to pee.

_I don’t like him, I don’t like him,_ she lectured herself. He was a juvenile delinquent, a stain on society. And she was going far in life in politics or law maybe. No, there was no way she was attracted to those vile piercings and haircut. And he most certainly was not her soulmate. It had to be someone else.

And yet, when she got back from her stroll in the woods and the others were in the tent, ready to sleep, she found herself laying down beside him, with the vague idea that he’d keep her safe if the wolves came, and maybe she could snuggle against him in the night for warmth. Her stomach lurched excitedly at the thought and she had to stifle a groan, hating herself for somehow developing this dumb crush.

She couldn’t sleep, Duncan’s story was still reeling in her mind, and the ground was too hard and she was cold. She glanced at Duncan. How was he asleep already? She cursed him under her breath. This challenge was going terribly. They’d had no food, Katie and Sadie were missing and now sleep seemed miles away. They were so going to lose this challenge.

 She heard a whispered conversation between Bridgette and DJ, followed by Bridgette exiting the tent. The next thing she knew, the tent was burnt to a crisp around them. Well, that would make it easier to sleep. Not.

“Great,” Courtney seethed. “That’s just great Bridgette. Now we have nowhere to sleep!” she screamed at the girl. Maybe she was being harsh, but honestly how clumsy could one girl be? If she’d thought things were bad before, it was nothing compared to now.

“Yo, Drama Queen, relax. It’s cool,” Duncan assured her. Or at least tried to. She was far from being reassured. How could he be so relaxed at a time like this? Did he never worry about anything? It was infuriating.

“Cool?” Courtney snapped. “It’s COOL? Things could not possibly get worse!” she shouted at him. She knew it wasn’t his fault but he was the easiest target, plus it helped her to hate him and forget that brief attraction she’d felt before. Only, it turned out things could get worse, because at that very moment the heavens opened and it began to pour. Duncan looked smug, which honestly was bewildering to Courtney. Did he like being soaking wet? She shrieked in frustration, knowing this was going to be the worst night of her life.

-

It was morning, Duncan was sure of that from the birds he could hear singing. It had stopped raining sometime during the night and they’d all fallen asleep. There was a warm comforting pressure on his chest, the curvaceous figure of a woman curled against him, her legs entwined with his and her hand absentmindedly stroking his chest. Was he still dreaming?

He opened an eye cautiously and his heart stopped for a second when he saw who it was who was cuddled up to him. Shit. He was finding it harder and harder to lie to himself and keep pretending he wasn’t more than a little attracted to her. She was gorgeous and she was dominant and feisty. It was sexy, he had to admit. He wondered if he kissed her if maybe the lines on his chest would turn to colour.

_Shut up Duncan,_ he told himself. Thoughts like that were not welcome in his head. He didn’t want her and he didn’t need her and soulmates were for nerds like Harold.

“Morning, Sunshine,’ he said tauntingly as Courtney opened her eyes. He wasn’t sure it he was teasing her because he was trying to keep her away, or because he just like to tease girls he liked. _You don’t like her,_ he scolded himself. He leered at her as she gasped and sat up.

“Ohmygod. Ew!” she said in dismay. “You were cuddling me!” she was up and away from him as fast as humanly possible. Duncan did his best not to scowl at her reaction. Actually it was kind of funny. That was the second time she’d ended up in his arms in the last 12 hours, and now she was trying to act like she didn’t like it? Pfft, she was so hot for him. And it was now his number one mission to get her to admit it. Not because he liked her back or anything. But because it was embarrassing for her.

“ _I_ was calmly lying on my back and trying to catch a few z’s,” he pointed out in amusement. “ _You_ were snuggling up to me,” he grinned. Courtney’s face was priceless.

“You are such an ogre!” she retorted.

“I’ve been called worse,” Duncan shrugged and laid back down. She hadn’t admitted her mortal attraction for him, but she had been unable to deny that she was snuggling up to him, and that was enough for now. Duncan considered it a victory. He chuckled to himself as Courtney made a cry of frustration and stormed away. Yep, she so wanted him.

-

“Let’s go already, so we can make it back before the Gophers!” Courtney demanded as the rest of her team slowly woke from their slumber. It was late enough already! Plus she needed something to forget to burning embarrassment of being caught cuddling up to Duncan. It was cold, okay? And he was nice and warm and comfortable. It was nothing more than that. She had been planning to wake up earlier so that he’d never know, but unfortunately she’d been able to sleep _too_ well and he’d caught her out.

But the rest of the world could know that so as soon as they were back at camp she made sure to let everyone know via confessional that she had been ASLEEP and therefore it meant nothing and essentially it was like it never happened. If only she could forget about it so easily herself.

They were the first team back, but their victory was short lived when Chris pointed out that they had team members missing.

“Oh, you mean Katie and Sadie?” Courtney asked innocently. “I’m pretty sure they got eaten by wolves last night.” That was believable, right? In any case, Courtney was past caring.

“Darn shame,” Duncan shook his head in agreement. Courtney tried not to act surprised that he was backing her up, even after all the names she’d called him. She supposed he just wanted to win as much as she did. She was still so mad at him though. But Katie and Sadie had not been eaten by wolves (much to Courtney’s chagrin) and they raced into camp only a moment later. They were so going to get it.

“Have you two finished your little love-fest?” Courtney asked sweetly, interrupting the hugging girls. “Good. Because thanks to you we just LOST THE CHALLENGE!” Courtney cried. She needed them to know it was _their_ fault they’d lost and that was why one of them was as good as gone.

-

            The campfire ceremony was uneventful as everyone had agreed that Katie was going home. The girls were as useless and annoying as each other so they just decided to go in alphabetical order. 

After Katie had been ferried away on the boat of losers, Courtney made her way to the step of her cabin, trying to collect her thoughts, which were mainly filled with Duncan. How was it possible to hate him so much and yet at the same time he was constantly in her thoughts, wondering if he could be the one to make the lines on her chest light up. But she knew that path led only to madness and it wasn’t going to win her the competition.

As if he were called to her by her thoughts, Duncan appeared from the darkness and sat by her on the step. Her stomach dropped when she saw him walking towards her. She glared at him as he sat down.

“Ugh, what do you want now?” she said in annoyance.

“I just wanted to say that, I’m sorry I scared you,” Duncan said, a little unconvincingly.

“I was not scared!” Courtney denied. “It was completely circumstantial.” She was glad that he thought she was mad because he scared her, but she still had to prove to him that she hadn’t been scared at all. She wasn’t afraid of anything, after all. “And there is no such thing as a hook man!” she scoffed.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Duncan agreed indifferently. “Or are you?!” he bellowed, pulling a hook out. Courtney shrieked at the top of her lungs. Annoyed at herself for falling for it, and for him for tricking her again, she groaned in frustration and stood up.

“I hate you!” she declared. She stalked off back to the campfire and Duncan smirked to himself.

“She so doesn’t hate me,” he snickered. And he would have her admit it before this competition was through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, hope you liked this chapter! Title comes from the song Disgusting by Kesha/Miranda Cosgrove! (Last chapter's title was pretty obvious I don't think I need to explain that haha). Writing this makes me realise how much I miss sesaon 1 Duncney, they were so cute :(
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you thought!


	4. You'll Never Know if You Can Fly

Duncan followed Courtney back to the campfire, much to her obvious annoyance. He didn’t say anything to her, however, and she was left to her own thoughts, wondering what the next challenge would be and what her strategy for the rest of the game would be, since she’d still been unsuccessful in forming any alliances. It was lucky her team were too stupid to vote strategically and were easily persuaded to vote off Katie, their weakest player.

The team stared into the fire in silence for what felt like an eternity, until Bridgette returned from the dock with a bawling Sadie, who was carrying a plank of wood for some unknown reason. It seemed Sadie wasn’t taking Katie’s departure too well.

“It was a long goodbye,” Bridgette said by way of explanation as she sat down next to Courtney.

The sound of footsteps caused the Killer Bass to look up and see the Gophers approaching. The group stopped by the fire, looking smug and Courtney stood up to face them.

“What do you guys want?” she asked snarkily. She wasn’t in the mood to play nice with the enemy. “Come by to rub it in?”

“We got some extra dessert after our tuckshop party,” Trent grinned, “thought you might want some,” he offered. Beth held out some kind of dessert that looked suspicious at best.

“So what, you’re just being _nice_?” Courtney scoffed doubtfully. She was sure the Gophers had some kind of ruse up their sleeve, and whether it was a harmless prank or a more sinister plot, Courtney was not going to fall for it.

“Okay, Owen stunk up out cabin and we need some time to air out,” Gwen admitted. Okay, not as devious as Courtney had originally thought, but not exactly altruistic either. Beth walked up to Courtney with holding their peace offering.

Courtney shrieked when she realised what it was. Green jelly. She hated green jelly even more than she hated Duncan’s green Mohawk. But, she knew everyone would think it was super weird to be freaked out by _jelly_ (as everyone at her school had thought last year when she’d gone home crying after a food fight incident in the cafeteria) so she quickly covered her reaction with a fake smile.

“I mean… no thanks,” she said nervously, hoping no one thought anything of her outburst.

“What, are you on a diet or something?” Duncan asked. Courtney groaned inwardly. _Of course_ Duncan would have to push the subject. Didn’t he know when to shut up?

“No! I just don’t like green jelly, okay?” she snapped. Duncan frowned at her overreaction but Courtney just folded her arms haughtily to let him know the conversation was over. Thankfully, Beth left her alone and made her way over to DJ. Duncan, ignoring Courtney’s obvious wish to change the subject, opened his mouth to ask her _why_ she didn’t like green jelly, but was stopped (to Courtney’s relief) by a high pitched squeal being emitted from DJ’s mouth.

“Snaaaaaake!” he cried, hitting the jelly from Beth’s hands and across the campfire where it landed at Cody’s feet. The short boy picked it up with a grin.

“Chill dude,” Cody said reassuringly, “it’s just a gummy worm!”

“Sorry for trippin’,” DJ hung his head in shame, “snakes just freak me out.” Tyler placed a reassuring hand on DJ’s back.

“I feel you,” he said. “Chickens give me the creeps dude,” he confessed.

“You’re afraid of chickens?” Gwen said incredulously, clearly judging Tyler’s weird phobia. Duncan snickered in agreement. Courtney was oddly glad she’d said nothing about the jelly thing.

“Wow, that’s… that’s really lame, man,” he mocked.

“No, you know what?” Beth interjected, sticking up for Tyler. “I’m totally afraid of being covered in bugs. It’s my mortal fear. I think it started when I was eight, and my Mom left me outside playing by the apple tree. There was this big gust of wind and then out of nowhere all of these gross bugs were covering me. I had nightmares for weeks! My mom said-,” Beth went on until Heather interrupted her.

“That’s enough!” she snapped and Beth fell quiet. “I think we all know that most terrifying thing in the world is sumo wrestlers!” Heather said. Someone went to laugh but turned it into a cough when they saw Heather’s death stare.

“Nuh-uh,” Harold disagreed. “Ninjas are way scarier than sumo wrestlers!” Courtney rolled her eyes. Everyone here was a bunch of babies! As the rest of the group began to tell their worst fears, Courtney listened intently, all the while thinking how glad she was that she didn’t have any fears. Especially not ones as stupid as the rest of the people on the island.

“I’m not really afraid of anything,” she said smugly.

“Bologna,” Duncan coughed under his breath, though not very subtly. He smirked at Courtney, and she knew he was just doing it to get a rise out of her, but she’d be damned if she let him get to her. She turned on him, giving him a look of disgust.

“Oh really? Well, what exactly is your phobia, Mr. Know-It-All?” Courtney challenged. Her words had the desired effect as Duncan immediately wiped that smug grin from his face and looked slightly nervous. The group stared at him expectantly. It was Courtney’s turn to look smug now as Duncan gulped, clearly not wanting to reveal whatever embarrassing phobia he had. But eventually he surrendered and stammered out the thing no one expected to hear.

“Celine Dion music store standees,” he admitted in defeat.

“Ah, ex-squeeze me?” Cody laughed, “I didn’t quite get that!”

“Dude, did you say Celine Dion music store standees?” Trent said with a hint of mockery. Duncan covered his face with his hands in embarrassment. Courtney was having the time of her life. After what Duncan had done to her last night (and tonight as well), it was nice to see him squirm.

“Ooh, I love Celine Dion!” Lindsay squealed. “What’s a standee?” Courtney rolled her eyes at the blonde’s newest idiotic comment.

“You know, that cardboard cut out thing that stands in the music store,” Trent explained.

“Don’t say it dude!” Duncan scolded Trent.

“Kinda like a lifesize but flat Celine,” Trent continued, ignoring Duncan’s discomfort. Courtney had never been happier to hear Trent talk.

“So if we had a cardboard standee right now…” she said teasingly, smirking at Duncan.

“Shut up!” he covered his ears as Courtney smiled to herself. At least now she knew his weakness. She was definitely going to use this to her advantage. She finally had the upper hand in this relationship. If it could even be called a relationship, since all it involved was Duncan being as annoying as possible and Courtney hating him.

 “What about you guys?” Duncan quickly blurted, trying to get the attention away from his Celine phobia.

“Okay, well, I hate mimes,” Trent shrugged nonchalantly, not embarrassed by his fear at all, “Like a lot.” Courtney rolled her eyes. He should be embarrassed by it, it was ridiculous. “Alright, Courtney, you’re afraid of something!” Trent accused, seeing her disdainful look. “Spit it out.”

Courtney considered for half a second saying she was scared of green jelly, but thought better of it. After all, it wasn’t really a _phobia_ , she just… didn’t like it. She wasn’t actually like… _afraid_ of it. Or so she told herself.

“Nope! Nothing,” she said proudly.

“That’s not what she said last night,” Duncan snickered to Geoff and DJ. Courtney fumed on the inside but managed to keep her cool.

 “Duncan, did you ever consider that maybe I was just humouring you and your stupid story?” she said haughtily.

“Sure, sure, Princess. Whatever floats your boat,” Duncan said, clearly not believing a word she said. Courtney seethed at his words. Princess? That nickname was really starting to get on her last nerve. What right did he have? She would have no more of his insolent attitude.

“Shut up!” she snapped. She immediately regretted her outburst, but she vowed not to let her temper get the better of her again. Look at what happened to Eva. The worst part was, she’d somehow already lost the upper hand she’d thought she had only a few minutes ago. What was it about this guy that made her blood boil and her skin burn?

-

Courtney and Bridgette had to put up with Sadie’s incessant crying all night that night. It was pathetic really. How could one person be so attached to another person that being without them for even a few hours sent them into despair. Even if they were your soulmate. It just further proved to Courtney that dependency on other people made you weak.

She traced over the lines on her chest lightly. She couldn’t really feel them, but she knew they were there, taunting her. And though she’d been able to forget about them for a few hours, it was always there in the back of her mind. _Someone_ on this island could have the power to make her feel something, if she let them.

But she couldn’t let them. She knew the moment she let her guard down would be the moment she would be destroyed. The whole soulmate thing was just a fantasy anyway. Just because someone was your soulmate didn’t guarantee that they were always going to be there for you. Her own parents proved that.

She sighed as she closed her eyes, trying to shut out Sadie’s sobs as she drifted off to sleep.

-

Duncan knew he’d regret telling everyone about his fear of Celine Dion music store standees, he just didn’t know he’d regret it _this_ much. Of course Chris, that sadist, would create a challenge out of making them face their mortal fears. At least he didn’t have to go first.

Everyone walked outside the mess hall to find a blow up pool full of worms.

“Oh my god that is so gross,” Courtney screwed up her nose when she saw it, her hand gripping onto Duncan’s arm. _So much for not being afraid of anything_ , he thought to himself. He ignored her though, annoyed at her for making fun of him last night, although he had had the last laugh.

He focused his attention on the pool, or at least he tried to. Courtney had yet to let go of his arm and he could feel the heat from her palm causing the skin under her hand tingle, even through his shirt. He thought about pointing out to her that she was still touching him, so _obviously_ she must like him. But somehow it meant more to him to have her hand there than to try and achieve his goal of getting her to admit she liked him.

Beth completed her challenge with surprising ease for someone who was supposedly deathly afraid of being covered by bugs. It seemed even Owen was more disturbed by the bugs than Beth was and Duncan scowled to himself, thinking the other team was already cheating somehow.

-

Things were going terribly for the Bass, as per usual it seemed. They had yet to score a single point and DJ was shivering in his boots just _looking_ at a tiny snake. The rest of the team was shouting encouragement to him, but Courtney was just feeling desperate. They _could not_ afford to lose again today.

“It’s the smallest snake ever, DJ!” she called to him impatiently. “Come on!”

“Yeah, but it’s slimy and scaly…” DJ whined. “And slithery!” he cried.

“We need this point, DJ!” Courtney yelled unsympathetically. “Suck it up!” Her remarks received a collective head shake from the rest of her team. “What?” she snapped. “We’re heading back to Loserville people,” she said defensively.

Courtney stared DJ down as he finally took a deep breath and approached the snake. The team cheered as the big guy defeated his fear and held the snake on his finger.

“See?” Courtney said primly. “Fear is only in the mind.”

-

Duncan stared at the standee. It was finally his turn to face his fear and he was not happy about it. Why did everyone have to watch? Didn’t they have something better to do?

“I can’t do it,” Duncan muttered, staring at the standee. He saw Courtney stand up and got ready for a verbal beat down like she’d given DJ. DJ may have taken it from her, but there was no way Duncan was going to let her boss him around. But to his surprise she just walked up and stood next to him.

“It’s alright Duncan,” she said kindly. “Look, she’s pretty. She’s nice!” she gestured to the standee. Duncan was all of a sudden not sure if he was more scared of the standee or of Courtney actually being nice to him. She was just playing him so he’d help win the challenge, right? Like that time with the dodgeball? And even though he knew it was just an act, something about Courtney being close to him made his heart do backflips.

 “That looks really… real man,” Duncan said nervously. He stared at Celine Dion. Celine stared back. Nope, the standee was definitely more terrifying than Courtney. She was so flat! And staring. Like she could see into his soul. Duncan shivered.

“Dude, she’s made of cardboard!” Tyler yelled. “Get in the game!” Duncan grimaced. He knew they needed this point if they had any hope of winning. But that didn’t make it easier.

“Hey,” Courtney whispered. “It’s okay if you can’t do it,” she smiled sweetly. Duncan’s heart lurched. What was this girl doing to him? He glanced at the Celine standee and took a deep breath. Some part of him wanted to hug the fake Celine even if just to show Courtney that he could. He felt a warm, soft hand slip into his and he glanced down in shock.

“Alright, I’ll try,” he said with a shaky smile, somehow gaining some newfound courage. Not that Courtney’s gesture meant anything to him. It didn’t make his knees weak and it certainly didn’t make him want to kiss her. Courtney smiled back at him.

“You can do this,” she said encouragingly.

“Okay, okay,” he breathed. He took a run up and barged at the standee, throwing his arms around her, closing his eyes and imagining it was Courtney and not Celine Dion. Although he knew from experience that the real Courtney was a lot nicer to hold than a piece of cardboard. The team cheered and Duncan turned to Courtney with a look of pride on his face. She was impressed right? She was cheering with the rest of them.

She ran up to him and threw her arms around him and Duncan felt his heart swell. The rest of the team approached and Courtney dropped her arms hurriedly. Duncan felt a little disappointed but he was still on a high from his victory. And he wasn’t talking about getting over his fear of Celine Dion.

-

Tyler was the last person on their team to face his fear. All he had to do was sit in the pen with the chickens for three minutes. So why was he freaking out so much? They were just chickens.

“Tyler, this is the last challenge! Quit being such a baby!” Courtney screeched at him. “You have to do this, or we’re going to lose!”

“Actually,” Cody interjected, tapping on a calculator he’d pulled from god knows where, “if you do the math, you can’t possibly win. The score’s seven to three,” he said gleefully.

“Not necessarily,” Chris said mischievously, “we’ve got one more challenge said up,” he chuckled?  
            “Who?” Courtney demanded in confusion. He couldn’t possibly mean her could he? “It can’t be me,” she continued. “But I didn’t…” she trailed off. She hadn’t said anything about the green jelly right? So they didn’t know. She hoped.

“You didn’t have to!” Chris grinned. “We’re always watching you and your reactions,” he wiggled his eyebrows. Courtney’s heart dropped. So they’d noticed her reaction to the jelly after all.

“I knew it!” Lindsay cried. “Didn’t I tell you they were eavesdropping?” she said in outrage.

“Oh who cares?” Courtney said dejectedly. “It’s not going to make a difference.” It was then that Chris announced he would give triple points to Courtney if she could complete the challenge. Everyone on the island gathered around a wooden pool filled with green jelly, where a diving board stood, ready and waiting for Courtney.

Courtney stared up at the diving board in despair. It was bad enough she had to touch the jelly at all, let alone _dive into it_. This seemed beyond unfair. Everyone else had totally easy challenges!

“You’re afraid of green jelly?” Duncan asked in amusement.

“Shut up!” Courtney snapped. How could he be so cruel when just half an hour ago she was helping him face his fear (his totally ridiculous fear) of Celine Dion music store standees? Her fear was nowhere near as stupid as that! And yet somehow she felt the need to justify herself. “Only the green kind! It’s like… sugary… jiggly… snot!” she cried desperately. Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach. And there was Duncan looking at her with a bemused expression on his face like he had just won whatever nonsensical game they were playing. And they were playing a game weren’t they? Courtney had thought she was winning for a moment there, when she’d slipped her hand into Duncan’s and felt his pulse quicken. But now, she wasn’t even sure what the object of the game was, let alone whether or not she was in the lead.

She sighed dramatically before making her way up the ladder, complaining the whole time, though she knew there was no point. Chris would never back down, and if she didn’t do it, her team would lose again, and it would be her fault. And she didn’t know if she could convince them not to vote her out again.

“That is just cruel! It’s probably warm by now,” Courtney heard Gwen say to her team. “Warm, green jelly. Snotty, bouncy… eugh!” Gwen shuddered. Gwen was now officially Courtney’s least favourite person on the island, other than Chris of course.

“You’re not going to make me quit!” Courtney yelled down defiantly. Gwen could try and play mind games with her all she wanted. She was not going to lose this challenge.

“That’s it, keep climbing!” Duncan called up to her. Courtney almost lost her footing at hearing Duncan’s encouraging voice. Was he mocking her or was he being genuine for once?

“She’s just trying to psych you out!” Bridgette yelled. Well, Courtney already knew that but it was nice to have her teams support. If she got through this challenge maybe Bridgette wouldn’t make a bad alliance member. They could team up with Sadie and take down the boys.

“Like you said Courtney, it’s okay if you can’t do it!” Duncan repeated her own words back to her. She appreciated the sentiment but she wasn’t an idiot. If she failed this challenge she was a goner.

“It is? But we’ll lose!” Courtney heard Bridgette say to Duncan. So much for being a supportive team member.

Courtney finally reached the top of the platform and stared down into the wobbly chartreuse coloured jelly in dread. She had never felt such an overwhelming feeling of anxiety. If she jumped into this jelly it would get in her hair and her eyes and her clothes and her shoes and between her toes. She imagined the squelchy feeling and the horrible stickiness that would cover her body. She covered her face with her hands.

“I can’t do it!” she sobbed. “I’m coming down!” she called. She knew she was totally pathetic. But she just could not bring herself to dive into that vat of gross jelly. She knew her team was disappointed. But what did it matter now anyway? They could just send her home, they’d all agree on it. It was her fault they’d lost and she deserved to go, though she never thought she’d hear herself say it.

She couldn’t face her team, she was too embarrassed. She slunk away to the confessional where she intended to justify herself to the world, but instead she found herself bursting into tears and crying about how weak she was. She knew she had to get it together, this wasn’t the person she knew she really was. There was still hope. She could still try to form the alliance with Bridgette and Sadie. And maybe… no, Duncan would never go for it. Whatever fleeting moment they’d had today was over the second she stepped off the ladder.

Courtney dried her eyes and ran off to find Bridgette and Sadie.

“Bridgette, Sadie,” Courtney said, finding the girls in the cabin. “I have a proposition to make,” she announced.

“Yeah?” Bridgette asked.

“What if the three of us formed an alliance and tried to get rid of the boys? Tyler first, obviously,” Courtney proposed. Bridgette and Sadie glanced at each other.

“Look, Courtney…” Bridgette says kindly, “we feel bad, but you lost us the challenge today. That means it’s your turn to go.”

“The way you voted out Katie when we got lost,” Sadie nodded. Courtney looked at the girls pleadingly and tried to reason with them, but it seemed their minds were made up. Courtney sighed and decided to leave them alone. She knew they we’re right, and it’s not like they owed her anything. She’d never tried to be friends with either of them.

-

Courtney knew it was coming. She looked at Tyler nervously. They were the only two without marshmallows. Though she was 99% certain she was leaving tonight on the boat of losers, she thought maybe there was a 1% chance the girls had reconsidered her offer.

“The final marshmallow of the night goes to…” Chris paused for dramatic effect. “Courtney!”

Courtney looked up in surprise. Was this real life? She caught the marshmallow Chris threw to her with glee. She lived another day! The girls must have thought better of voting her out after all.

“You’ll get that chicken next time, dude,” Duncan grinned at Tyler, patting him on the shoulder. He winked at Courtney as Tyler stood up and made his way to the dock of shame. Courtney gave Duncan a quizzical look, but he had already looked away. What did that wink mean? Had he had something to do with Tyler’s elimination? Or did he just think he was super funny as usual? She soon got her answer as they all started making chicken jokes.

“Okay, that’s enough!” she ordered, standing up. She was annoyed at herself for letting herself think for a moment that Duncan cared enough about her to convince the rest of the team to vote for Tyler. But _someone_ must have. She glanced over at him only to find him staring at her. He quickly looked away, but she was certain he was looking at her. She sighed to herself, wondering when she would stop feeling so confused. 


	5. Eternal Game of Tug and War

Duncan didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt at blackmailing the rest of his team to vote out Tyler. Not that it was very hard. He told Harold he’d tell the rest of the camp he wet the bed, he told DJ he’d kill his pet rabbit and he told Geoff he’d ruin his chances with Bridgette if they didn’t vote for Tyler.

He knew they suspected his reasons were about Courtney but he didn’t really give a shit what they thought. They _were_ to do with Courtney. He still hadn’t achieved his goal of getting Courtney to admit she had the hots for him, and he couldn’t let her go home before that. That was the only reason. He ignored the memory of Courtney’s hand slipping into his and the way his heart soared when she threw her arms around him.

Alright, well maybe he cared a little what his teammates thought. He couldn’t let them think he’d gone soft or something because he had a crush on a girl. Because he _didn’t_ have a crush. He thought she was hot, that was all. And he was nice and encouraging during the challenge because he wanted to win.

He decided he needed to spend the day away from Courtney, and the challenge that Chris had set for them made that easy. On any other day he would have snagged Courtney has his canoe partner right away, if only for the thrill of antagonising her the whole way (it was so easy, and so fun), but today he quickly grabbed Sadie and Harold, the two people least likely to grill him about his feelings for a certain brunette.

He glanced behind him as he led Sadie and Harold to a canoe, only to see Geoff make a total idiot of himself with Bridgette once again. He rolled his eyes. Geoff was so beyond Duncan’s help, the guy was a disaster when it came to women. Duncan had tried to give Geoff some advice last night, but obviously it hadn’t worked.

“Duncan, I think I’m starting to get somewhere with Bridgette,” Geoff had said to him after the campfire ceremony that night. “I need your help though, what can I do to take it to the next level dude?” Duncan thought about it for a moment.

“You should get her a present,” Duncan told Geoff.

“A present?” Geoff repeated musingly. “But what can I get her while we’re on this island? There’s not exactly a lot of stores around man.”

“You’ll have to make something. A bunch of flowers or a carving of your own skull or something,” he shrugged.

“Is that what you’d do for Courtney?” Geoff asked. Duncan glared at Geoff menacingly.

“I wouldn’t do anything for Courtney because I don’t like her,” he growled.

“Oh come on man, but she’s your soulmate!” Geoff prodded.

“You don’t know that,” Duncan said gruffly. Just because he himself had considered it a few times didn’t mean it was true. There were plenty of girls on this island that it could be.

“Who else could it be?” Geoff asked. Duncan shrugged and stood up to go back to the cabin.

“Fucked if I know, but if it’s Courtney, I’ll kill myself,” he scowled and left Geoff sitting by the campfire.

But obviously if Geoff had taken the advice, Bridgette hadn’t exactly liked the gift because she was clearly avoiding Geoff on purpose. Duncan quickly turned his attention back to the canoe when he accidentally locked eyes with Courtney as she came down to the beach. He handed Harold and Sadie the oars.

“You guys can paddle,” he declared.

“But-,” Harold started to protest.

“You got a problem with that, Dorkwad?” Duncan said threateningly, grabbing the front of Harold’s shirt. Harold shook his hear quickly, shaking in fear. This was too easy.

Ten minutes later, Duncan was already regretting his choice of canoeing buddies.

“You know, when I went on Paddling Steve’s canoe camp, he told us that the best way to paddle is if you turn your oar slightly- oof,” Harold was cut off as Duncan punched him in the stomach.

“Oh my god Harold, that is just like the time Katie and I went to a camping store because our dad’s were going there and we got totally lost in the canoeing section and-,” Sadie gushed.

“Would you two shut up?” Duncan growled.

“Gosh Duncan, you’re so boring,” Harold sniffed.

“Totally. Why did you even pick us for your partners if you were just going to be so mean?” Sadie agreed.  Duncan was silent.

“It’s because he’s afraid he’s getting feelings,” Harold said knowingly.

“One more word and you’ll be swimming to shore, got it?” Duncan snapped. Harold nodded meekly. They were silent for the rest of the trip.

-

Courtney was relieved Bridgette had asked her to be her partner. Surely that meant Bridgette had rethought voting Courtney off last night and convinced Sadie and one of the boys to vote with her. That meant Duncan’s wink was just some creepy innuendo that she hadn’t understood at the time.

And now Bridgette was telling her all about her problems with Geoff and how he’d given Bridgette a heart-shaped clay bowl with a picture and inscription. It was pretty creepy, she had to admit.

“I know he thinks we’re soulmates, but I’m really not so sure,” Bridgette admitted. “I’ve really enjoyed hanging out with him lately… but I don’t know, the idea of being meant specifically for one person kind of freaks me out.” Courtney could relate to that.

Did this mean Bridgette considered her a friend? Could this be the alliance she had been dreaming of since day one? Bridgette was, after all, the sanest one on the team. And the girls had to stick together. Bridgette could manipulate Geoff into voting however she wanted him to, if his crush on her was as enormous as the present he’d given her suggested.  If they could convince Sadie to join the alliance as well, they could easily eliminate all the boys and make it to the final three together. Courtney glanced over to Sadie’s canoe, where she could see her paddling with Harold, Duncan sitting in the middle doing nothing at all.

“Typical,” she muttered under her breath.

“What?” Bridgette asked.

“Oh, nothing. What were you saying?” Courtney replied.

“I was just saying that I heard rumours that just because your soulmate is someone, doesn’t mean you’re their soulmate,” Bridgette shrugged. “Like just because your mark lights up when you kiss, doesn’t mean theirs will too.”

“I’ve never heard that before,” Courtney replied. “I doubt it’s true. I do know that some people ignore it though. My parents were soulmates but they split up anyway. Sometimes love isn’t enough,” Courtney sighed. She’d never really told anyone that story before and she realised she really did think of Bridgette as a friend now.

“You’re probably right,” Bridgette said. She glanced over at Geoff and DJ’s canoe. “Still doesn’t mean Geoff and I are soulmates.”

-

Once they reached the island Courtney did her best to help Bridgette avoid Geoff, while she herself tried to avoid Duncan. Avoiding Duncan was somehow much easier than usual, because he didn’t seem to be trying to annoy her at all. It was odd she thought, and she almost missed it for a moment before snapping out if it.

Avoiding Geoff was harder. He kept looking behind and grinning at Bridgette, who was looking anywhere but him. When she happened to agree with him on what direction they should take he seemed to instantly brighten, only to have Bridgette snap at him. The poor guy had it bad, but he was coming on way too strong and Bridgette was not ready for it.

The group seemed to be making good headway, they had a good lead on the Gophers, until disaster struck and Geoff went down with a horrible splinter. Courtney rolled her eyes as Bridgette rushed to Geoff’s side. What was her deal anyway? Did she like him or not?

“Go on without me!” he cried as he lay on the ground. Courtney was about to do as he said, figuring that if they tried to help him they’d lose their lead, but DJ insisted that they couldn’t leave him. DJ and Harold hoisted him above their heads on Geoff and DJ’s canoe and carried him to the other side of the island.

Courtney’s mouth fell open when she saw that the Gophers had beaten them there and were already building their fire.

“Come on guys, we have to build this fire! Quick, everybody find some firewood!” Courtney ordered. The rest of the team hurried off to do her bidding. She quickly scooped up some kindling and began trying to light the fire by rubbing two sticks together.

“This isn’t working!” she cried angrily. She felt a shadow hover over her and she looked up to see Duncan blocking the sun. She smiled at him, strangely glad to see him after not speaking to him all day. She then remembered she was supposed to hate him and turned her smile into a frown. “Are you going to help or what?” she snapped.

“That was the plan,” he drawled, pulling out his cigarette lighter. Courtney grabbed it from him gratefully, ignoring his usual smug look and flicked it onto the pile of sticks she had built, and they caught alight instantly. She handed the lighter back to him, blowing on the small flame to make the flames grow quicker. She then hurried off the help the rest of the team get more firewood. Their team was in the lead again and she couldn’t be happier.

“I don’t think this is going to be big enough,” she mused as she eyed the fire. Everyone rushed off to get more wood, but Harold, the total imbecile, grabbed the oars and threw them on the fire. A minute later the island seemed to explode after Izzy threw god knows what on her team’s fire.

“Great, just great,” Courtney muttered, glaring at Harold.

The campers made their way back to the canoes and as the Gophers paddled away, the Bass were left staring hopelessly at their canoes, until Izzy gave them the idea to have someone push the canoes back. Luckily DJ stepped up to the plate despite his fear of water, and the Bass won the challenge.

-

Courtney primped in the make shift mirror they’d set up in the girls bedroom, reapplying the lipstick that had worn off during the day, despite the fact that she’d probably go to bed soon anyway. But with all the cameras around she couldn’t risk looking bad at any moment. She heard a crash behind her and she looked around to see Bridgette picking up the pieces of the gift Geoff had given her.

“Do you have any glue?” Bridgette asked.

“I wouldn’t waste my time trying to fix _that_ ,” Courtney sneered. Hadn’t Bridgette been complaining about it only a few hours ago? It was a terrible and creepy present and Courtney could not for the life of her work out why Bridgette would want to keep such a thing.

“Maybe I would…” she heard Bridgette murmur. Courtney glanced at her new friend, taking in the small smile on the blonde’s face and the blush that tinged her cheeks when she caught Courtney staring at her. Courtney realised then what was going on. Bridgette really did like Geoff, that much was obvious. They were probably even soulmates, like Geoff obviously thought they were. They _would_ look really cute together.

Courtney sighed and walked over to help Bridgette pick up the pieces. She couldn’t help feel that twinge of jealously she had felt when she found out about Tyler and Lindsay. And it was nothing to do with the people, but that they had found each other, and she hadn’t yet. And she knew they were on this island, but she wasn’t sure who it was yet, although she had a strong suspicion.

But that was ridiculous! They didn’t even like each other. They had nothing in common. He was a terrible person who didn’t have a stitch of empathy and could never love someone like that. Sure, she was attracted to him, she could admit that to herself (and _only_ herself) but that didn’t mean he was her _soulmate._ She knew there was only one sure fire way to find out the truth, but she wasn’t about to just walk over there and kiss him, that could lead to major embarrassment.

But she could think of something else that might determine it for her, if only in her mind.

“Bridgette…” she started cautiously.

“Mmmm?” Bridgette responded absentmindedly, putting the chards of Geoff’s present in her suitcase.

“Did you and Sadie decide to vote for Tyler in the end?” she asked, dreading the answer somehow. Bridgette turned to her, looking a little guilty.

“No, sorry. We voted for you. Or at least I did,” Bridgette shrugged.

“Then who…?” Courtney started, but Bridgette interrupted her.

“I think you know who saved your ass, Courtney,” Bridgette raised an eyebrow and Courtney looked at her hopelessly. “I’m going to see if Chris has any glue,” Bridgette said, leaving Courtney kneeling on the floor of the cabin, her mind racing. Something inside her was sure now that Duncan was her soulmate. She didn’t know if it was her heart or her head or the marks themselves, but she knew it with such a certainty that it ached.

And she was furious. She was so angry that she was forced to be connected in any way with such a vile, disgusting ogre. He may be her soulmate but she didn’t have to like it, and she was going to fight it with every fibre of her being. 


	6. You Might See How Hard I'm Trying

It was Courtney’s mission for the rest of the competition to ignore Duncan where possible, and when it was necessary to acknowledge his existence she would be as rude as possible. She didn’t even flinch when he knocked her shoulder as he walked past her and she merely rolled her eyes at his glee at finding out the challenge was a hunting challenge. Of _course_ he would enjoy shooting things.

After Owen had eaten everyone’s beans that had been supplied for their breakfast, Chris led the campers over to a case of guns.

“And now for the team break downs,” Chris addressed the campers. “The Killer Bass Hunters are; Harold, Geoff, and Bridgette,” Chris threw paintball guns at the three of them. Courtney groaned at the choice of hunters. There was no way Harold was going to be any good with a gun, and Bridgette was an animal rights activist for crying out loud.

 “Locked and loaded with Bass blue paint!” Chris continued. “And using orange paint are the Gopher hunters; Leshawna, Beth, Owen, Lindsay,” he tossed over the red coloured paint guns. Owen cheered at his new position of hunter.

“This is awesome man!” he cried ecstatically.

“You also get these stylin’ glasses and wicked camo caps!” Chris grinned. “The rest of you… are now deer,” he stated. “Here are your antlers, noses, aaaand little white tails,” he chuckled to himself. Courtney screwed up her nose at the costume. This was so not cute.

“Yeah, right!” Heather complained, voicing Courtney’s thoughts. “I am _not_ wearing that!”

“There is no way I’m a deer!” Duncan complained, his earlier delight at a hunting challenge immediately evaporating as Chris smacked a set of antlers, goggles and red nose onto his head. On second thought, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, Courtney smirked to herself at how foolish Duncan looked with the antlers on. So much for his bad boy appearance he worked so hard on. This challenge was already Courtney’s favourite so far. She giggled to herself as Chris then attached the tail onto Duncan’s backside, completing the ridiculous ensemble.

Owen also had a laugh, although not as discrete as Courtney’s own laugh.

“What are you lookin’ at?” Duncan sneered at the big blonde.

“Oh nothing,” Owen smirked. “ _Bambi,”_ he added maliciously, pulling Duncan’s tail.

“You’d better be a good shot, tubby,” Duncan poked Owen in the chest threateningly. The rest of the deer reluctantly put on their costumes and glared at anyone who tried to make fun of them.

“Alright, deer get ready! You’ll get a three minute head start and then I’ll send the hunters after you! And go!” Chris shouted. The Gophers quickly ran into the forest while the Courtney, Sadie, Duncan and DJ ran in another direction.

“Okay, I think we can stop running now,” Sadie puffed. They all slowed down and walked at an even pace through the woods.

“At least we get a head start,” Courtney mused to Sadie. Today was the day she was going to try and convince the girl to be in an alliance with her and Bridgette.

“I don’t know about y’all but I’m outta here,” DJ said being bounding off into the trees. Courtney, Sadie and Duncan stared after him in wonder.

“So, Sadie,” Courtney said, shaking her head. “It must be really hard for you without Katie around.”

“Oh, it so is! This is the longest Katie and I have ever been separated. Do you know what that’s like?” Sadie said sadly.

“To be separated from your best friend?” Courtney asked in clarification.

“To be separated from you _soulmate_ ,” Sadie corrected. Courtney inadvertently glanced at Duncan, who was trailing behind the two girls. She hoped he didn’t notice.

“No, I don’t,” Courtney admitted.

“It’s like, my chest won’t stop aching. Even though I know I’ll see her again soon,” Sadie sighed. For Courtney, this just confirmed why she should never let herself get close to Duncan. She didn’t need the excruciating pain of the separation, or the feeling of weakness because you need a person that much.

“It can’t be that bad,” Duncan snorted.

“Shut up, Duncan, it’s none of your business,” Courtney snapped.

“It’s just a _person_ ,” Duncan continued. “It can’t possibly _hurt_ you to be away from them. At least not the way a broken leg hurts or a kick in the nuts,” Duncan said assuredly.

“It hurts much more than that,” Sadie sniffed.

“Whatever,” Duncan rolled his eyes. Courtney scowled at him. She was supposed to be avoiding him, and here he was hanging around her like the plague.

“I think we should split up,” she announced before walking off into the forest on her own.

She walked around for what seemed like hours without seeing another person. Why was this challenge so dull? Her thoughts drifted to Duncan and she found herself getting mad all over again that he was probably her soulmate. She could feel the rage under her skin and the disgust at having such a lowlife as a soulmate. She needed to find him and give him a piece of her mind. Or just insult him, or something. Ignoring him wasn’t working, so maybe being a bitch would.

-

Duncan strolled through the forest, minding his own business. This challenge was so lame. He really wanted to be a hunter. He considered removing the stupid tail and antlers but he knew their team would get disqualified and he didn’t feel like losing today. And what was up with Courtney lately? She’d barely acknowledged him since their trip to Boney Island. She hadn’t even made fun of his tail. Maybe she was trying to get back at him for ignoring her since their last challenge.

He walked over to the river to get a drink, still lost in his own world. He narrowly avoided being shot by Owen before racing back into the woods. He wondered how the rest of his team were going. _God, this is so boring,_ he thought as he wandered aimlessly through the trees. He glanced around to make sure there were no hunters around before pulling out a can of spray paint and practising his skull drawing skills.

“Why do you smell worse than usual?” came a condescending voice from behind him. He turned around to see Courtney pursing her lips at him, standing with her hands on her hips.

“It’s Owen’s stink!” he said defensively. “It’s following me around like my juvenile record.”

“Well, I’m heading back,” Courtney said snootily. “This stupid game must be almost over by now.” Duncan silently agreed with her and was prepared to follow her back to camp, except for the fact that she was headed in the wrong direction.

“You’re going the wrong way,” he informed her.

“Excuse me?” she scoffed. “I was a CIT, remember? I have a natural sense of direction. Camp is this way,” she declared, pointing in the complete wrong direction, of course.

“No, it’s that way,” Duncan corrected. She rolled her eyes at him and ignored his advice, going the way she had originally said. Fine, if she wanted to get totally lost, that was her problem, but he wasn’t about to do the same. Duncan went his own way, only to crash into her and find himself entangled in her antlers. He tried to pull away, as did she but as they pulled at each other they only seemed to get more stuck.

“Very funny,” Courtney said, clearly not amused at all. “Now let me go!” What did she think, he’d planned this whole thing so he could be stuck to her? Like he wanted that!

“Hey, princess, this isn’t my idea of fun either,” he pointed out.

“Great, Duncan!” she said accusingly. “Now what?” she shrieked. Duncan briefly considered just taking off the antlers; that was the easiest option. But he knew Courtney would run off and tell Chris and then they’d lose the challenge. Plus, he now had an infallible excuse to be near her. After the avoiding she’d clearly been doing all day, she was now stuck with him, and the knowledge of that brightened Duncan’s spirits considerably. Maybe he’d finally get her to admit she liked him.

“Do you wanna make out?” he suggested with a grin. Okay, he was pretty sure she wasn’t going to say yes, but it was worth a shot. Even if the only outcome was that she was even more pissed at him, it was totally worth it. There was something about winding up Courtney that gave him a thrill. Was it that she was super hot when she was seething? Maybe. Or that he was pretty sure she could crush him with her bare hands? Also quite likely. But it was probably because she tried so hard to act cool, calm and collected all the time and the fact that he could get under skin meant that she wasn’t really. And he liked that, because he knew that somewhere under that stuck-up-bitch exterior, there was a wild child waiting to burst out. And he would be the one to do it.

-

            Courtney’s eyes widened at Duncan’s words. She felt her face heat up and she hoped Duncan didn’t notice the blush that covered her face, or perhaps he’d mistake it for anger.

            “No, I don’t want to make out!” she snapped. Even though she really did. Like, a lot. So much for trying to avoid him. Now she was stuck to him, and all she could think about was how his lips would feel against hers and how she knew the lines or her chest would fill with colour as soon as their lips met. She could feel that familiar sensation of her heart pounding, trying to escape from the prison of her rib cage so that it could be with her soulmate. This was a horrible feeling. She wanted him so badly, and she knew it right now it would be so _easy_ to just give in to her desires.

            But she also knew that path led to heartbreak, pain and devastation. And not one hundred thousand dollars. So she took a deep breath and held onto her pride, though her whole body was screaming out for Duncan’s touch.

            “Come on, let’s get back to camp,” she said instead.

            “We’re going my way,” Duncan insisted. Courtney hardly cared anymore, she just wanted to be removed from this excruciating situation as soon as possible

            “Fine! Just hurry up!” she said impatiently. The two of them walked sideways in the direction that Duncan was adamant camp was in. The process was slow and any time Duncan tried to talk Courtney would hush him or give him a withering glare.

About halfway back to camp Chris’s voice came through the loudspeaker telling them that the game was over. The two of them kept going, not even thinking that now they’d be allowed to take off their antlers.

            They eventually made it back to camp, only to find both teams there staring at them. God, could this get anymore embarrassing?

            “Oh this is too much!” Gwen said in amusement. Why was Gwen always there to make Courtney’s humiliation worse? First the jelly and now this. One day she was going to slap that girl.

            “Ooh, Duncan you sly dog, you!” Owen called lewdly.

            “The girl can’t keep her antlers off me!” Duncan snickered. Courtney was thankful Duncan didn’t realise just how true that statement was. As it was, she was furious with him still, and that comment did little to calm her rage. She brought her foot back and kicked him square in the nuts with as much force as she could muster. The punk deserved it.

            “Easy, Courtney, our medical tent’s really only equipped for one person at a time and Cody’s pretty messed up,” Chris warned her. Courtney couldn’t care less if Duncan needed the medical tent and couldn’t use it. He had it coming, and she certainly felt a lot better now that she had emitted some of her anger.

Bridgette and Geoff walked over and separated the two of them. Duncan dropped to his knees, holding his crotch while Courtney stood over him, shooting daggers. This was totally all his fault.

-

That night the Bass relaxed in their cabin as they awaited the return of the Gophers to see who had been eliminated.

“Things are finally going well with Bridgette,” Geoff told the guys. “No thanks to you, Duncan. I’m demoting you and replacing you with DJ.”

“Hey, I gave you good advice, you just couldn’t follow through,” Duncan defended. Not that he really wanted to be Geoff’s wingman, but he knew he was good with the ladies and he didn’t want Geoff taking that away from him, just because Geoff himself was incompetent.

“Whatever, DJ was the one who got Bridgette talking to me again after the gift fiasco,” Geoff pointed out.

“Not my fault your gift was lame,” Duncan shrugged. “I’m excellent with the ladies.”

“Then why haven’t you hooked up with Courtney yet?” Geoff said, raising and eyebrow. “We all know you like her.”

Duncan looked at him, stunned. He wasn’t expecting the question. He couldn’t formulate a response because he hadn’t realised Geoff even knew he was _trying_ to hook up with Courtney. In fact he’d barely even known it himself, but he knew that his actions towards the princess could only be explained by one thing; he wanted her.

He thought about the way he was practically always either following her around, or avoiding her because he didn’t want anyone to know that he liked her. And he _did_ like her. A lot. And he hated himself for it because she was exactly the kind of woman who drove him crazy, but maybe that was why he liked her so much.

He’d spent so long trying to deny it to himself and to everyone else, while simultaneously trying so hard to win her over in the most obscure ways; scaring her, antagonising her, comforting her, teasing her or encouraging her, but never once admitting to himself his true motives. Somewhere along the line he’d convinced himself he wanted her to admit that she liked him for the sole reason of it being embarrassing for her, but he’d totally ignored the underlying reasons that he felt in his heart.

The simple fact was that he really wanted her to like him because, well… he liked her. And he was terrified that maybe she didn’t like him back after all because he knew that if it turned out she didn’t like him back he would be a total laughing stock.

Geoff, DJ and Harold were staring at him as he opened at shut his mouth, trying to think of a snide comeback, but all he could think about was Courtney’s lips so close to his when their antlers were entwined, and the pang of disappointment he felt when she’d rejected his offer of making out. At this point he didn’t care if they were soulmates or not, but he knew it was likely, since she was the only girl on the island he was lusting after.

“Shit,” he swore under his breath. “You’re right,” he looked at Geoff hopelessly. “I’m fucked. What the fuck am I going to do?”

Geoff, DJ and Harold stared at him in bewilderment, as if they hadn’t really expected him to admit it.

“Just tell her you like her,” Harold advised. Duncan glared at him as if he were stupid.

“Are you crazy? I can’t let her know I like her! That would be humiliating,” Duncan scowled. “It’s bad enough that you guys know. And I swear to god if any of you say _anything_ I will cut your throats in your sleep.”

“Don’t worry dude,” Geoff assured him, “DJ and I will help you. Tomorrow at the challenge we’ll do everything we can to make her like you.”

“I’ll help too,” Harold sighed in agreement. Duncan nodded, his mouth forming into a tight line, lest he show any kind of emotion. He really hoped their plan worked. 


	7. I'm Gonna Make You Want Me

Duncan jumped out of bed and began his usual morning workout routine, only to find himself face to face with Harold’s underwear. And this was not the first occurrence. His cry of disgust woke the other four guys and Geoff and DJ laughed at Duncan’s misfortune.

“Not cool, Harold, man! Not cool!” Duncan yelled at Harold.

“Those aren’t mine,” Harold denied.

“Oh, right!” Duncan scoffed. “You’re always leaving your gitch lying around!”

“No I’m not! Gosh!” Harold folded his arms in annoyance. Duncan slipped on his shorts as DJ and Geoff got out of bed to join the argument.

“Ah, yeah you are, dude,” Geoff countered.

“You have like absolutely no proof,” Harold stated, getting out of bed himself.

“No one else wears that kind, dude,” Geoff pointed out.

“And your mom sewed your name onto the label,” DJ chuckled.

“Whatever! I’m going for a shower!” Harold said dramatically, grabbing his towel and leaving the cabin in his underwear.

“Hey, don’t forget to clean the skid maker!” Duncan called after him. “I think Harold needs to be taught a lesson, boys!” Duncan said mischievously. “Who’s with me?”

“Yeah!” DJ and Geoff agreed as the three of them high fived.

“It needs to be something to do with his underwear that’s going to totally embarrass him and make him look like an even bigger idiot than he already is,” Duncan mused.

“Maybe we should find out what the challenge is, and then we can decide where to go from there,” Geoff suggested.

“Good plan,” DJ agreed. Duncan was suddenly reminded of their conversation last night about Courtney.

“Speaking of plans… that conversation last night. We should just forget about it. I don’t really like Courtney, I was just lying,” Duncan said unconvincingly.

“Come on Duncan, we said we’d help, so we’re going to,” Geoff assured him. Duncan sighed. He knew there was no taking it back now, but he wished his feelings for Courtney were still a secret.

“What is your plan then?” he asked. “What do I have to do?”

“You just have to act normal,” DJ instructed. “Like you said, you can’t let her know you like her. Keep treating her the way you always do.”

“Yeah, and don’t act like you’re trying too hard. Be cool,” Geoff agreed.

“How is that supposed to help? It hasn’t worked so far,” Duncan scowled.

“That’s where we come in,” Geoff said proudly. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure you two spend as much time together as possible.”

“She already likes you,” DJ said knowingly, “we just have to break down her walls so that she admits it.”

“This doesn’t sound like a very foolproof plan,” Duncan said sceptically.

“Would you just trust us, dude?” Geoff said, pretending to be offended.

“Fine,” Duncan exhaled dramatically. He hoped these two idiots weren’t going to make him look like a fool I front of Courtney and the entire viewing audience.

“And DJ, you’re still going to help me with Bridgette, right?” Geoff confirmed.

“You know it!” DJ said, giving Geoff a thumbs up.

“Come on, the challenge is going to start soon,” Duncan warned them.

The three boys walked out to join the rest of the campers and Geoff gave Duncan a shove, pushing him so that he was standing next to Courtney. He turned to give Geoff a frown, only to look back at Courtney and find her glaring at him. He grinned at her and she made a noise of disgust before turning back to Chris.

Chris announced a cooking challenge, and the Duncan looked at Geoff and DJ in glee, a plan formulating in his mind already.

They made their way to the food truck and opened the doors.

“We could do a killer Italian theme!” Geoff said in excitement.

“Hello head chef!” Duncan grinned.

“Seriously?” Geoff asked. Duncan nodded. It was the least he could do since Geoff had agreed to help him with Courtney. Maybe Bridgette would be impressed by Geoff’s leadership skills. “Then let’s get grabbin’!”

As the team collected their ingredients and headed inside to Chef’s kitchen, Duncan grabbed DJ and Geoff and explained his plan for Harold to them. The boys cackled malevolently until Courtney walked by them with Harold, a suspicious look on her face, and they quickly disbanded.

“Okay, we got like six people and three courses,” Geoff said casually, throwing Harold a can of tomatoes. “So everybody partner up!” Duncan saw Geoff look meaningfully at DJ and Harold and he figured their plan was to partner him and Courtney together.

“I know how to make pasta sauce!” DJ offered.

“I know how to boil pasta…” Bridgette said and DJ high fived her. Duncan wondered if Geoff had recruited Bridgette for this plan too, but he hoped his friend wouldn’t betray him like that.

“Me and Sadie can rock the antipasto,” Harold grinned. Duncan was grateful that Harold had also decided to help with the plan, and he felt almost guilty for a moment about the trick they were going to play on him. “I’m like a black belt when it comes to cutting cheese.” On second thought, he had no qualms whatsoever. Harold was a total nerd.

“I guess that leaves you and me on dessert detail,” Duncan said suggestively, giving Courtney his most winning smirk and wiggling his eyebrows at her.

“Oh no,” Courtney refused. “No way!”

“Come on, Courtney!” Geoff stepped in, doing his job as wingman. He put an arm around Duncan and around Courtney. “For the team,” he convinced her. Courtney looked at both guys doubtfully. Duncan and Geoff smiled innocently and Courtney frowned, clearly not believing their act. It was like she could tell they were up to something.

“Fine,” she sighed. “But you better not screw this up!” she warned. Duncan nodded and shared a look with Geoff. It was now time for phase one of the plan to teach Harold a lesson.

-

Courtney watched disapprovingly as Duncan rolled out the pastry. It was just her luck to get stuck with him for the whole challenge. The deer hunting challenge had so not gone the way she wanted it to. She’d tried avoiding him and she’d ended up literally stuck to him, and he kept bringing it up whenever possible. Now it seemed like he was doing his best to annoy her again with his terrible pastry rolling skills. Couldn’t he do anything right?

“Careful your big paws don’t mash the pastry!” she scolded as she mixed up the custard filling. She hadn’t really wanted to let Duncan do either job but he insisted her knew how to make pastry so she eventually gave in.

“Careful your uptight butt doesn’t curdle the custard!” Duncan snickered. He thought he was so hilarious! It was beyond Courtney how she even found herself attracted to the dumb punk, let alone be his soulmate. It was infuriating.

“Oh ha ha ha,” she laughed sarcastically, before shrieking at the sight that had just walked back into the kitchen. Harold stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a shirt and a tiny pair of underwear.

“Okay, who took all my shorts?” he accused. Courtney shot a sidelong glance at Duncan not doubting for a second that he had something to do with it. At that moment Chris walked in and announced they had three hours left before they had to serve their meals.

“Can you just make sure it’s even?” Courtney said to Duncan as they went back to preparing the dessert.

“I’m trying,” Duncan replied. “You don’t have to keep bossing me around,” he scowled. Courtney eyed him suspiciously, but it really did seem like she was trying so she just went back to making the custard. That was until a shouting match erupted on the other side of the kitchen.

“Dinner and a show,” Duncan chuckled.

“You should be thanking your lucky stars you have me on your team and not Heather,” Courtney informed him.

“I am,” Duncan said genuinely. Courtney met his eyes, feeling them boring into her soul. She suddenly felt flustered and she dropped her eyes back to the pastry.

“It looks fine now, you can put it in the oven,” she said, trying to regain her composure as Duncan eyed her in interest. She pretended she didn’t notice and went to take the custard to the fridge.

“Sadie!” she called. “The bench is all yours! I’m going for a walk. Bridgette, want to join me?” she asked. Bridgette nodded and the two of them skedaddled from the kitchen.

“What’s up?” Bridgette asked once they were outside. Courtney had intended to confess everything to Bridgette, to get it off her chest so that she could finally breathe. Her certainty that Duncan was her soulmate, her decision to ignore that fact and the deep burning desire she had for him anyway. But now that they were alone, she couldn’t bring herself to voice her fears aloud. It was a confession she knew she could never take back. She hesitated before speaking.

“Nothing… it was just really stuffy in there,” Courtney lied. Bridgette saw right through her though.

“It’s Duncan, isn’t it?” Bridgette guessed.

“No!” Courtney denied. “Yes… I’m so confused. Can we talk about you and Geoff instead?” she said, a hint of desperation in her voice. Bridgette seemed to sense this so she let Courtney change the subject.

“Fine,” Bridgette sighed. “What do you want to know?”

“How’s it going? I mean… you seemed to be getting close with him,” Courtney observed.

“Yeah, things were going well until today when he told me I looked like his friends hot mom,” Bridgette rolled her eyes. “Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?” Courtney cringed. Geoff really had no idea.

“I mean, at least he’s trying,” Courtney pointed out.

“I guess,” Bridgette shrugged. “I really do like him most of the time, and he’s _really_ cute, but sometimes he just says the dumbest things,” she sighed.

“He thinks you’re soulmates. People do dumb things for love,” Courtney said wistfully.

“I guess you’re right,” Bridgette agreed reluctantly. “But this whole soulmate thing freaks me out still! I mean his shirt is _always_ open. Those lines are kind of intimidating, you know? Whether or not they’re for me.” She glanced at Courtney and Courtney knew she wasn’t going to like what was coming next. “Do you think Duncan’s your soulmate?” Courtney didn’t know how to reply. Should she admit to Bridgette how sure she was that Duncan was her soulmate?

“No,” she said eventually. “No, definitely not.” She said it with a tone of finality but she wasn’t even sure she had convinced Bridgette, let alone herself. “I’m going to the confessional, you should head back,” Courtney told Bridgette. The blonde nodded and Courtney went to the confessional to try and convince the viewing audience that Duncan wasn’t her soulmate, since she couldn’t seem to convince herself.

-

“Somebody find Courtney, it’s time to finish the dessert,” Duncan said to no one in particular as he got out the tray of pastry and the custard from the fridge. He knew Courtney would probably want to do this part herself but she wasn’t here and he was, so he got out a piping bag and began filling the pastry with custard.

“They all have to have the same amount of custard!” came a voice behind him. He hadn’t noticed Courtney sneak up on him, he was so busy concentrating on the dessert. He rolled his eyes and continued pumping.

“Oh relax, they’re fine,” he assured her. He thought they looked pretty damn good if he said so himself. Courtney was still looking angry though. “You know, you’d be a lot more fun without that pole up your butt.”

“I’m like the most easy going person I know!” Courtney said defensively.

“Oh yeah, you’re totally laid back,” Duncan scoffed. Was she serious right now? Well, now he had a point to prove and he knew just how to do it. He didn’t hesitate before squeezing the piping tube full of custard and squirting the yellow goo all over her face, grinning at himself.

Courtney cried out in outrage as the custard hit her face, and she looked less than impressed. She wiped the custard from her face slowly, looking like she was going to cut a man, before picking up the bowl of custard and flinging it at Duncan’s head. She burst into laughter as the custard ran down his face.

Okay, that was definitely not what he was expecting. But then again, he had known there was more to Courtney than just an uptight control freak. And then she did something even more unexpected, running her finger across his forehead to scoop up some of the custard and then licking her finger. Was it wrong that he found it incredibly hot?

“Now who has a pole up their butt?” Courtney teased, obviously mistaking the look on Duncan’s face for one of disgust.

“It’s still you, princess,” Duncan smirked, pulling the custard bowl from his head. “One custard fight does not make you a laid back person.” Courtney screwed up her nose at him. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have to remove this custard from my hair before we serve the food.”

He left the kitchen on a high. Courtney had finally let loose for once, and it was because of him. She was actually smiling at him and teasing him. Could Geoff and DJ’s plan actually be working?

-

Courtney’s heart was still thumping from the brief custard fight she’d had with Duncan. It had actually been kind of fun, and it was totally harmless. It didn’t make her like him even more, or anything like that. Nope, definitely not. She was still as indifferent to him as she was on day one. He returned from the washroom with his hair all fixed up after getting the custard out of it, just as it was time to serve the dessert to Chris.

Courtney picked up the plate of cannoli and gestured for Duncan to follow her out to the dining room where Chris was waiting. She placed the dish in front of him and stood back, waiting nervously for his verdict. If the Bass won this challenge it would be their third win in a row. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she glanced around to see Duncan trying to comfort her. He gave her a reassuring smile and she smiled weakly in return. He obviously knew how much this meant to her.

“Ehh…” Chris started. “Six.” Courtney’s face fell at the score and Duncan looked ready to murder Chris. Courtney was annoyed at herself. They could have got a higher score if she hadn’t decided to participate in Duncan’s dumb custard fight, she was sure of it. But then Chris announced that the Gophers needed a ten for their dessert to even get a tie and the two of them instantly brightened.

The Gophers dessert was a disaster, and if that wasn’t amazing enough, the sight of a very angry, blue Heather with horribly drawn on eyebrows sure made everyone’s day.

“The Bass win, twenty one to twelve. And it’s not just ‘cause I almost died. The ribs sucked too!” Chris declared. The Bass cheered while Heather went on a rampage.

“As promised the Bass will be enjoying a reward tonight!” Chris announced. “A five star dinner under the stars!”

The Bass erupted into cheers again at this news.

“Way to go guys!” Courtney grinned. Duncan turned and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her from the ground. She giggled, feeling dizzy and her heart pounding from the contact and the thrill of winning yet another challenge. But as much as she enjoyed being in Duncan’s arms, she had a promise to herself she had to keep.

“Put me down,” she told him, she was still smiling but she was fast becoming anxious. “Put me down!” she snapped after he ignored her the first time. He quickly placed her back on her feet, looking a little worried. She pursed her lips at him in annoyance. Why did he keep having to do things that made her like him? Couldn’t he just stay away from her? Even when he was being purposefully annoying she liked him and she was really getting sick of it.

-

While the Gophers headed to the campfire ceremony once again, the Bass were led by Chef to a clearing in the woods for their 5 star reward dinner.

Duncan kicked at the ground, trailing behind the rest of his team, wondering how he messed up with Courtney so bad. He had thought he was making progress, but then at the end of the challenge she was back to hating him. And he was pretty sure she didn’t _really_ hate him, but she sure as hell was doing an excellent job of pretending to. But he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why.

The group stopped dead when they saw what had been set up for them. A table stood in the middle of the clearing, adorned with candles and roses. In the trees someone had strung fairy lights that glittered like the stars above their heads. Even Duncan was impressed by the magical atmosphere that had been surrounded them. It could have been really romantic… if the girl he liked would talk to him, and if Harold wasn’t there.

“Awesome…” Harold breathed. “Like… amazing!”

“Yeah,” Geoff agreed next to him. Duncan saw DJ give Geoff a shove in the direction of Bridgette. Geoff cleared his throat and Bridgette looked up at him.

“Shall we?” Geoff held out his arm and Bridgette took it. Duncan rolled his eyes as Geoff led Bridgette to the table. If only things were that easy with Courtney.

Somehow DJ managed to orchestrate the seating arrangements so that Duncan sitting next to Courtney, much to her obvious annoyance.

“Hey, princess,” he drawled, pouring her a glass of fake wine. She took the drink but ignored his comment.

“A toast!” DJ announced, standing up, holding his glass out at eye level. “To the Killer Bass and our third win in a row!”

“To the Killer Bass!” everyone cheered. Duncan went to clink glasses with Courtney but pulled his glass away at the last second, as she was still refusing to look at him.

“It’s bad luck to not look someone in the eye when you clink your glasses,” he whispered in her ear. She shivered at his breath on her neck and turned to face him. Her eyes shimmered with the reflection of the fairy lights surrounding the clearing and Duncan didn’t take his eyes off her as their glasses touched.

“Well done today,” he told her.

“Thanks,” she said shortly. “We only got a six though. We could’ve done better if we’d stayed focused on the task instead of acting like children.”

“Aw, is that what you’re mad about? Come on, it was fun. And we still won, so what does it matter?” Duncan shrugged, grinning at her.

“It matters because we only won because the Gophers did terribly, not because we were good,” Courtney snapped. “There’s a difference, and it’s knowing that difference that is the reason I’m going to go far in this competition and you aren’t,” she spat.

“I know you think you’re better than me, but trust me, you aren’t,” Duncan snorted. “And I know you like me,” he added with a wink. “You can deny it all you want, but I’ll get you to admit it eventually.”

“Your confidence is admirable,” Courtney said scathingly, “but let’s get one thing straight. I don’t like you, and I never will,” she said matter-of-factly.

“We’ll see,” Duncan smirked. She was trying way too hard to convince him that she didn’t like him, which could only mean one thing; she most definitely did like him. Duncan chuckled at Courtney’s aggravated groan, but he left her alone for the rest of the night. There was still plenty of time to win her over.


	8. Don't Go Ruining My Bad Reputation

Courtney pushed the Hawaiian-Italian fusion casserole that Chef had served for breakfast around her plate with the straw she'd so graciously been given. After their five-star dinner last night this was a real downer. This day was so not going good. She'd already been exposed to a naked Harold, and while it had given the girls a good laugh, the sight of his tiny penis was now etched into her brain, making her sick to her stomach.

She tried to swallow a bit of Chef's concoction of leftovers from the challenge, but she couldn't seem to stomach even a bite, so she scraped the so-called food off into the bin and took her plate up to the counter. As she did so she didn't miss Duncan swipe one of the mugs by the coffee machine. She quickly jumped on him, before he thought he had gotten away with it.

"I saw that," she informed him. "How could you just steal a mug?" Duncan looked at her disdainfully.

"Cause it's cool looking and I don't have one," he sniffed. "Didn't have one, that is," he corrected himself with a smirk, carrying his coffee back to the table. Courtney followed him. If she couldn't appeal to his sense of honour (of which she was sure he didn't have any), maybe she could appeal to his sense of wanting to win one hundred thousand dollars.

"But you might get kicked off," she whispered urgently. Not that she cared of course. It would be all the better for her if he got kicked off, then she wouldn't have to worry about this dumb soulmate thing.

"Naw," he grinned, "and here I thought you didn't care about me!" Trust him to take it the wrong way. Why did he always have to be so aggravating?

"We're one player short and I don't want to lose because you feel like going all  _criminal_ on us," she told him haughtily. She'd already made it perfectly clear to him last night that she didn't like him, but he hadn't seemed to hear a word she said.

"Pfft, whatever," Duncan brushed off her comment. "You dig me." He grinned again.

"Ugh!" Courtney moaned. "Why do I even bother?" she stalked off, feeling very frustrated. If they lost the challenge this week he was so going home.

-

In a strange turn of events, Chris gave the campers an entire week off from doing challenges. Everyone was tense and on edge and Courtney spent most of her time in the girls cabin hiding from Duncan. But, a week after their cooking challenge, Chris had assembled both teams on the dock to announce the challenge for the day.

"So, last week's challenge exposed a few Gopher issues," Chris announced, "and I'm sensing a little something funky floating in the Bass pond too," he nodded. Courtney felt Duncan elbow her in the ribs, as if to say, "he's talking about us." Courtney frowned at him and gave him a shove, sending him into a face plant on the dock. She was  _not_ going to put up with his bullshit today.

"So this week's challenge is going to be centred around building trust," Chris continued as Duncan picked himself up and dusted himself off, glaring and Courtney. She gave him an evil grin, hoping he'd finally got the message. "Because all good things begin with a little trust," Chris declared.  _Too bad I don't trust Duncan at all,_  Courtney thought.  _I may have an unmentionable and inexplicable attraction towards him, but the guy is a criminal with no heart,_ she glared at him and he rolled his eyes as Chris explained the challenge.

Nobody looked particularly happy with the challenge. Courtney was sure there weren't two people on this island who actually trusted each other fully. This was going to be an interesting day.

-

Duncan had kind of been hoping to get on a challenge with Courtney, especially after her performance on the dock. He was landed with DJ, however, which he supposed was better than being paired with Harold.

Duncan's job was easy, just hold the ropes and catch DJ if he fell, though Chris tried to make it harder by squirting pepper sauce at him.

"Is that the best you can do?" Duncan laughed as he swallowed the sauce. His sunglasses stopped any liquid from getting in his eyes. This was so easy, Gwen had already fallen once, and although she was gaining on DJ fast, Heather was a horrible partner and Gwen would probably fall again.

He got a bit more nervous when Gwen overtook DJ. DJ looked like he was struggling a little and Duncan wondered if he was scared of heights as well as snakes.

"Come on, Gwen," Duncan heard Heather call, "You don't want to fall  _behind_ ," she yelled, sounding weirdly malicious. The next thing he knew he was staring at Gwen's purple underwear.

"Well," he said gleefully, "you don't see that everyday!" He stared at Gwen's ass appreciatively and unapologetically. It had been a while for him after all, and Gwen wasn't exactly ugly. She even had a pink skull and cross bones on her panties, he noted approvingly. The girl had style, that was for sure. He was too busy ogling Gwen's ass to notice that DJ had fallen, and by the time he noticed it was too late. His foot got caught in the rope and both of them were left hanging from the cliff in midair, while Gwen made it to the top, despite her lack of skirt.

Courtney, Harold and Sadie helped Duncan and DJ down from the cliff while Geoff and Bridgette were ushered off to the kitchen for the next part of the challenge. It took them about half an hour to finally get the two of them down, and Duncan didn't stop complaining the whole time.

"This wouldn't have happened if you'd been paying attention instead of staring at Gwen's ass," Courtney scolded Duncan as he fell to the ground.

"Sounds like someone's jealous," Duncan smirked, brushing himself off.

"I'm not jealous!" Courtney growled at him. "God, you never think about anyone but yourself!" she cried as she stalked off.

"She's jealous," Duncan told DJ assuredly, watching Courtney's ass as she walked away. Now why couldn't Heather have removed Courtney's clothes instead of Gwen's?

_-_

_Jealous?_ Courtney scoffed to herself as she made her way to the next challenge,  _I'm so not jealous._ What did she care if Duncan wanted to stare at Gwen's butt? She knew she had a way nicer ass than Gwen did anyway. Gwen's ass was practically flat. She couldn't deny that it had brought her a little joy to see the girl embarrassed like that though. Did that make her as bad as Heather? No, of course not. Gwen had mocked her countless times, and acted like she was better than Courtney just because she dressed in all black? Whatever. Gwen had a bad attitude and there was no way she was going to win the competition.

Speaking of which, where was Duncan? She looked around, unable to see the punk anywhere. She huffed, he really should have been there at every challenge. Although when it came time for Sadie to throw apples at her head, she was kind of glad he wasn't around to witness her be pelted by hard fruits. He would have enjoyed that way too much.

-

After he'd been released from the ropes that had him hanging from the cliff face, Duncan decided to go and check on how Geoff and Bridgette were doing for their challenge, despite the fact that DJ, Harold and Sadie assured him it would be over by now and they should go and find Chris for the next part of the challenge. They turned out to be right, of course, and by the time he got there it was only Chef Hatchet dressed in a nurse's outfit and Trent in the dining hall.

"What happened to him?" Duncan asked.

"Lindsay poisoned him," Chef told him. "Help me take him to the medical tent." Duncan hurried over and the two of them lifted Trent onto a stretcher and carried him to the medical tent where Chef began searching through the first aid kit.

"Hm, seems like we're out of anaesthetic," he mused. "Wait here while I go and get some." Duncan was about to protest but Chef was already gone. He looked at Trent awkwardly for a moment.

"So…" he started. He knew Trent could hear him but couldn't talk back. "We haven't talked much." Trent just stared up at him. "You just can't seem to catch a break, can you?" Duncan chuckled. "First the mime, then the quicksand, then the concussion and now this. I think this competition's trying to kill you."

He couldn't think of anything else to say to Trent so he sat and watched him in silence. Five minutes later Chef walked in, carrying an unconscious Courtney over his shoulder.

"Is she okay?" Duncan asked worriedly, jumping up from the bed he was sitting on so Chef could put Courtney down.

"She's gonna be fine," Chef said, though he didn't sound that happy about it.

"What happened to her?" Duncan asked, his attention now solely on Courtney.

"Sadie hit her in the head with an apple," Chef shrugged. "Now I'm going to get the anaesthetic." Chef left the tent again as Duncan stood by Courtney's bed. The collar of her shirt had fallen open and he could just see the beginnings of the lines that adorned her chest. He felt a lump form in his throat, wondering if he kissed her now what would happen to them. He felt the urge to trace over the lines with his fingers, but he stopped himself, knowing that would be way out of line.

"Are you still here? Get your ass over to the next challenge," Chef yelled, entering the tent again. Duncan scarpered from the tent and over to the water pit where Chris was about to announce the next part of the challenge.

-

Courtney couldn't really remember anything after Sadie had said she was a great shot, and she figured that was a bad sign.

"What? Where am I?" she asked dazedly, sitting up on a stretcher.

"You're in the infirmary," Heather informed her. She thought for a moment until the memory of Sadie bombarding her with apples came flooding back to her. That girl was so going to get it.

Courtney stared at the jellyfish on Heather's head and wondered if in fact she was still unconscious. She continued to wonder this as she watched Duncan walk past the tent holding a carrot and trailing behind him was… a rabbit? This day just got weirder and weirder.

"What's Duncan doing with a rabbit?" she wondered aloud, once she'd decided she was definitely awake (if she were asleep she would definitely dream about some place better than this).

Courtney followed Duncan at a safe distance so he wouldn't notice her, until they came to the location of the final part of the challenge. She watched as Duncan picked up the rabbit and called out to DJ.

"Hey, DJ! Look who I found!" he called, raising the rabbit above his head. Courtney wasn't really paying attention to the rest of the challenge, she was too busy being astounded by Duncan's actions. Did he actually have a heart in there after all?

Both teams crossed the finish line, and the Bass celebrated as Geoff and DJ crossed first. DJ retrieved Bunny from Duncan's hands happily.

"Thanks Duncan," DJ said gratefully, tearing up. "You're the best!"

"Whatever, man," Duncan shrugged. "It's just a stupid rabbit." Courtney chose that moment to reveal that she'd been watching him the whole time.

"I can't believe you found a new bunny for DJ," she smirked. All this time Duncan had spent trying to convince everyone he was a badass, but now she knew he actually cared. "You're a good guy," she couldn't believe she was saying it, but weirdly, she actually believed it. And for the first time she wasn't totally repulsed, or angry that Duncan was her soulmate.

"What? No, I'm not," he denied.

"You are," she argued. "You're actually…  _nice_ ," she smiled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he sniffed.

"I saw you do it Duncan," Courtney said smugly.

"Whatever! He wouldn't leave me alone! Weird rabbit," Duncan muttered. He couldn't even look her in the eye, which just proved he was lying about the whole thing. Courtney raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, fine! I did it," he admitted. "Are you happy now? Listen, don't tell anybody, okay? I don't want them to think I'm soft or anything," he said in embarrassment. Weirdly, Courtney felt like she finally understood Duncan and why he was always acting so tough, and why he kept making audacious and suggestive comments and being a pain in her ass instead of just  _talking_ to her. It was because he was scared, just like her. As much as they both were loath to admit, they were terrified of showing any weakness like (god forbid)  _love._

"Your secret's safe with me," she promised, and as she walked away, she knew that Duncan thought they were soulmates too. And she wasn't mad about it anymore, but she wasn't quite ready yet to act on it, because she still wasn't quite sure it wouldn't be a huge mistake. Because once it was confirmed, there was no going back, and she knew once she kissed him she'd be in it for the long haul, even if he wasn't. And she thought about her mom and dad, and she knew she wasn't ready to take that risk. At least, not yet.

-

Duncan watched her walk away and he wondered what the hell had just happened. Was that all it took to get Courtney to like him? Being nice? But that wasn't who he really was. This rabbit thing was a one time thing… he didn't have  _feelings_ , he didn't  _care_ about things. At least… he tried really hard not to.

He had prided himself on being able to get under Courtney's skin, but he hadn't realised just how much she was working her way under  _his_ skin. This wasn't just a dumb crush anymore, he actually really felt something for her. And he was really hoping she was his soulmate because he knew that if he had to be without her he'd miss her like crazy.

He groaned to himself. How had this happened? Did she know? And what was he going to do about it? Should he just keep going the way he had? Winding her up and trying to flirt with her? Or should he try something else? Or should he just give up completely before he made a total fool of himself? After all, there was a nagging thought at the back of his mind that something wasn't right, but he couldn't figure out what it was. But they  _had_ to be soulmates. There was no one else on this island he gave a crap about, other than DJ and Geoff, and they certainly weren't his soulmates.

He knew he had a lot to think about, and he wasn't about to rush into anything. He had always been a lone wolf. Even when he had had girlfriends in the past, he was never actually faithful to them, not that they expected him to be. He'd always hated the idea of soulmates, so why was he suddenly so thrilled to think he might have found his? It didn't make any sense. In any case, Courtney was still playing hard to get so maybe he wouldn't have to worry about it any time soon anyway.

-

"We're voting Sadie," Courtney informed Bridgette.

"But what about the girl alliance?" Bridgette reminded her.

"Sadie knocked me unconscious with apples. I can't let that slide," Courtney said haughtily.

"Fine," Bridgette sighed.

"Now you have to convince Geoff, and he can convince the other guys. It shouldn't be too hard, since Geoff is in love with you," Courtney said nonchalantly.

"Why don't you just talk to Duncan," Bridgette suggested. "I'm sure he'd do it for a kiss," she teased.

"I'm not kissing Duncan," Courtney scowled. She hadn't told Bridgette about what had happened today, and she was never going to.

"Afraid your lines will get coloured in?" Bridgette laughed.

"Would you just go?" Courtney ordered impatiently. Bridgette left the cabin, still laughing.

-

Sadie was less than impressed with the news that she'd been eliminated, but Courtney couldn't care less. Good riddance.

"You know what?" Sadie said angrily, standing up from her tree stump. "That's fine with me, you… marshmallow eating freaks!" she cried, bursting into tears as she ran down to the dock of shame. Courtney waved her goodbye, thinking about how she was now one step closer to one hundred thousand dollars. Bring it on.


	9. For They're Designed to be Together

Amazingly, Courtney had thought that after she witnessed Duncan's display with the rabbit, that he would treat her differently. But instead of them being friends like she'd hoped would happen, he was back to just ignoring her completely again. Well, she could live with that. It made her decision about whether or not to act on her feelings that much easier. He was such a child! She didn't need that kind of juvenile behaviour in her life.

Plus, if she was being honest with herself, she'd kind of been avoiding him too. It was too much for her to know that they were both aware that they were soulmates. She knew if she spent time with him it would only be a matter of time before one of them acted on it, and she could not deal with that right now. She still wanted to win this competition after all, and Duncan had distracted her enough already.

They'd now been on the island for over a month and it was time for their eleventh challenge. To Courtney's surprise, it wasn't Chris's voice that came through the speakers that morning, but Chef Hatchet's. This could not be good news.

They all raced down to the dock as Chef had instructed them to do, where they stood in line. Apparently, however, they weren't standing straight enough and their heads and legs weren't in the correct position but Chef quickly put them in their place. He was decked out in military gear and Courtney knew this was not going to be an easy challenge.

After explaining the rules to them (or rather, shouting the rules at them through a megaphone), Chef led them down to the beach where the first challenge was set up.

"Listen up! Each team must hold a canoe over their heads. I catch you taking your hands off the canoe and you will be eliminated!" Chef threatened. "And no one eats lunch until someone drops out," he chuckled maliciously. Courtney did not like the sound of that. She glanced at the person next to her to see if anyone else was as worried about it as she was, only to find it was Duncan, who was obviously thinking the same as she was. They both looked away hurriedly.

"Canoes up!" Chef ordered. Both teams quickly got into position and lifted the canoes above their heads.

They stood like that for hours; Courtney could feel her arms starting to ache as lunch time passed and they were still standing there, Chef and Chris making the task more difficult by sitting on top of the canoes. There was some commotion going on with Harold behind her, and he briefly took his hands off the canoe. Luckily Chef didn't see it.

Soon the aching in her limbs faded into a hollow numbness and she felt like she could keep going all night, even with Chef's boring war stories. She was thankful that she didn't have to, however, when Lindsay dropped her arms and walked over to the dock to ring the bell to signify her departure from the challenge.

Both teams gratefully threw their canoes to the ground and made their way to the mess hall for dinner.

"Alright, maggots!" Chef shouted. Did that guy even have a quiet voice? "Open your ears! You've got ten minutes to eat before night training begins! So get to it!" Everyone complained at Chef's announcement. Night training? Was there no end to this torture?

"Um, excuse me? Master Chief? Where's the food?" Gwen asked, voicing what Courtney herself was thinking.

"You're looking at it," Chef said in cruel amusement, gesturing to the trash cans that lined the wall. A few campers walked up to the bins and looked inside cautiously, but there was no way Courtney was even going to think about going near those bins.

"Oh, I am  _not_  eating this!" Heather declared, tossing her tray aside.

"Ugh, me neither!" Courtney agreed.

"Don't care for today's specials, princess?" Duncan asked with a smirk. Courtney looked at him in surprise. This was the first time he'd spoken to her since the last challenge. And he was making fun of her for not wanting to eat garbage? Like he was going to eat it!

"I am going to be running for office one day!" she snapped. "And no one is going to pull up a file of me eating garbage!" she screwed up her nose in disgust. She looked to Duncan but he had apparently gone back to ignoring her because his attention was focused on Harold now.

"Hey, Harold?" he said softly. "We felt really bad about the whole underwear fishing incident thing," he said apologetically. "So, here. We found you some apple juice," he handed Harold a glass of what appeared to be apple juice, but Courtney couldn't help but feel Duncan was up to something (as usual).

"Thanks!" Harold took the glass appreciatively. He took a sip but immediately spat it out. "That's not juice!" he spluttered.

"Oh… oh my mistake, dude," Duncan laughed as Geoff snickered beside him. "We must have confused it with the kitchen grease!"

"You guys are so immature!" Courtney huffed. Couldn't they leave Harold alone for five seconds? Honestly, it was pathetic. Although her reason for butting in may have been less about Harold and more about being annoyed that Duncan wasn't paying any attention to her. "I hope you're proud of yourselves!" Duncan just sniggered at her. It was infuriating!

"Okay, look," he said pointedly, "I know you like me! He knows you like me, everyone knows it!" he said, getting up in her face. Her heart pounded and she couldn't tell if she wanted to kick him or kiss him. Did everyone know it? The thought was agonising. "So here's a tip," Duncan continued. "If you wanna kiss me, I might let you," he smirked. Nope, she definitely wanted to kick him.

"And to think I actually thought you were nice!" she yelled.

"Shh!" Duncan hushed her, his smug façade suddenly falling. "Me? Nice?" he said with a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, right!"

"Why'd you think that?" Geoff asked her.

"Never mind, I was wrong," she huffed. "He's just as gross and annoying as he wants you to believe. Enjoy your garbage!" she spat before stalking off. Why was it that every time she thought she could actually see herself with Duncan, he had to go and act like a total asshole? She wondered if it was the jerk part of him was an act, or whether the whole nice thing with Bunny the other day was the act. Some kind of ploy to get her to admit she liked him.  _Well guess what, Duncan?_ Courtney thought,  _you're not as hot as you think you are, and I'll never let anyone know that I might actually like you a tiny bit._

* * *

The night training, as it turned out, began with dancing. Duncan wondered how this was remotely related to army training. This whole challenge was a total waste of time, honestly. The only good thing so far was picking on Harold and finally ignoring Courtney so long that she snapped. Well, he had made one comment to prod her. His plan was to annoy her so much that she'd forget about the whole "being nice" thing.

Except that now he'd decided he was done playing games with her. If they were soulmates, so be it. He'd deal with it. If not, they could at least have some fun until one of them got eliminated. He'd had enough pretending he wasn't into her, while simultaneously trying to win her over. It was exhausting. He  _knew_ she liked him. That much was obvious. So now he just had to get her to admit it. And okay, maybe he was still playing the game a little. But she made it so easy to provoke her, how could he help it?

He'd somehow managed to zone out but continue doing the monotonous dance moves. But now he'd had enough. He stopped dancing and walked over to the stereo to switch off the music.

"Duncan! What are you doing?" Courtney scolded him lightly. Was it his imagination or was their actually concern for him in her voice?

"One of us drops out, we're done for the day," Duncan explained, turning to Chef.

"We're done when I  _say_ we're done!" Chef growled. "Now drop and give me twenty." Okay, well that plan backfired slightly. At least he didn't have to dance anymore.

* * *

The campers gathered in the mess hall again where Chef instructed them to write a three hundred word essay about how much they loved him. While three hundred words wasn't a lot, Courtney struggled to think of even one thing she liked about Chef.

_The thing that I really love the most about our own Chef Hatchet, also known as Master Chief Hatchet, is that he is always takes the time and effort out of his busy schedule to lovingly prepare countless meals throughout the day for the hungry campers whom reside on this island at the present time._

She continued in this fashion, making up lies and adding in unnecessary words wherever possible to try and draw out the three hundred words. At 3am a buzzer sounded and Chef Hatchet collected the finished essays. He picked up Duncan's essay and began reading it aloud.

"I love Master Chief Hatchet because he is very very very very very very very very very very very very very…" Chef trailed off. "This is just one sentence with five pages of verys in between!" he shouted at Duncan. Okay, one; Duncan must have huge handwriting if he took up five pages for just three hundred words. And two; why hadn't Courtney thought to do that herself? It was actually a smart idea.

"It's three hundred words exactly! You can count them if you want," Duncan informed Chef smugly.

* * *

Duncan looked over at Courtney to see her scowling at him. What was it this time? He'd done the challenge, hadn't he? He watched as Chef Hatchet slipped over in Owen's drool and snickered to himself.

"You two slackers are out!" Chef yelled at a sleeping Trent and DJ. "The rest of you get to bed, and report to the playing field at 0500 hours!" he ordered.

"Uhh, missed a spot there,  _General,_ " Duncan said to Chef, handing over a handkerchief. Winding up Chef was even more fun than picking on Harold, and definitely on par with antagonising Courtney.

"Boy!" Chef shrieked, his voice cracking in anger. "Do you want to run fifty laps around this camp right now?" he threatened. Duncan was about to come out with a brilliantly witty retort (after all, two hours sleep was hardly worth it anyway), but Courtney grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away from Chef.

"No thanks!" she interrupted. "He's going straight to bed. Aren't you?" she hissed. Duncan thought he'd probably like to go to bed if she came with him, and was about to tell her so but she kept talking. "What are you trying to do? Get eliminated?" she cried, coming after him until he stopped moving and she nearly crashed into his chest.

"I didn't know you cared," Duncan drawled, leaning in close. Mmm, she smelt really good.

"I  _don't_ ," Courtney asserted, refusing to back off. "I just don't want to lose this challenge." They were so close now he could feel her body heat and he wondered if she was as tempted to kiss him as he was to kiss her. But he had decided she had to be the one to initiate it. He'd been perfectly clear with her, he'd made the offer. If he had a move now he'd look like a jerk. It was all up to her.

"So stop being such a screw up and do what you're told for once! Okay?" Courtney commanded before storming out of the dining hall.

"She wants me," he told Geoff with a grin, holding out his fist.

"No doubt," Geoff agreed, meeting Duncan's knuckles with his own.

* * *

Courtney managed to doze off for twenty minutes before they had to meet at the playing field. She groaned as she slipped out of bed, feeling worse than before she'd slept. Bridgette continued to sleep and Courtney decided she wouldn't bother waking her. There were still four Bass and four Gophers left, Bridgette could sit this one out.

Chef continued the training for the whole day, not letting them have any breaks except to go to the bathroom, and an hour break after "dinner" (which was just some kind of grey sludge). Courtney had another nap in this small time slot then quickly made her way down to where Chef had set up an obstacle course.

Geoff and Duncan were already there when she got there. Duncan was winding up Chef again, and Courtney glared at him.

"If you lose this for us, I'm gonna make you so miserable," she hissed. She was extremely tired and it was making her even angrier than usual. Duncan just smirked at her.

"Go, maggots, go!" Chef yelled. Just as they took off, Harold raced down from the cabins and managed to join the race, but was promptly eliminated when he swallowed a face full of mud.

Courtney hated this obstacle course. She was covered in mud, her limbs were aching and she was exhausted. But she couldn't give up. She could see Duncan just up ahead and she groaned inwardly as he came face to face with Chef.  _Please don't let him say anything stupid_ , she thought. No such luck, of course.

"You just bought yourself twenty more push ups!" Chef yelled at Duncan.

"Thank you," Duncan laughed sarcastically before kissing Chef on the nose. Courtney groaned aloud this time. What was Duncan thinking? He'd really done it this time. She watched as Chef turned visibly red, the veins in his neck and forehead bulging out.

"I think you may have pushed him over the edge, bro!" Geoff whispered to Duncan. Everyone else had stopped to watch the altercation.

"I think you're right," Duncan said, looking worried.

"One night, solitary confinement. In the boathouse," Chef said calmly. Courtney looked at Duncan anxiously. Great, he'd really done it this time. Now he'd have to spend a night alone in that horrible fish cabin.

"Big deal! How scary can it be?" he shrugged.

As Chef dragged Duncan to the boathouse for his day and night of solitude, the remaining campers trudged back to the mess hall for dinner.

Courtney and Geoff, the only two remaining on their team, sat together on the Bass table, prodding their gruel with their spoons. Courtney's mind drifted to Duncan as she absentmindedly played with her food. She wondered if he was okay out there alone. He hadn't had anything to eat, and who knew what horrors lay in the boathouse. Should she bring him something? Make sure he was okay? She didn't want him to starve after all. And even though he was acting like a total idiot by winding up Chef, he was still participating in the challenge and they needed him.

"I'm going to check on him," she finally decided, standing up. Maybe she was overtired. This was probably a bad decision. Alone with Duncan in the boathouse? Yeah that was smart for a girl who was doing her very best to keep her hands off him at all times.

"You like him," Geoff teased.

"I do  _not_ like him!" Courtney denied. And she would keep on denying it for as long as she was able.

"Yes you do," Geoff argued light-heartedly.

"Not only do I not like him, I can't  _stand_ him!" she declared. "He's rude, he's rebellious and he's totally annoying!" she listed. Too bad none of those things were enough to make her hate him. But Geoff didn't need to know that. "I'm gonna go check on him," she finished.

* * *

As it turned out, the boathouse was a lot creepier than Duncan originally suspected. Plus it was really uncomfortable. He couldn't believe he had to spend the whole night in this shithole. He sat down on a crate, feeling sorry for himself.

"Shoulda kept my big mouth shut," he muttered to himself. How was he supposed to break down Courtney's defences while he was shut in here? At least Chef hadn't kicked out of the challenge though, and come tomorrow he would not rest until she'd admitted how much she liked him.

Duncan looked at the dirty ground and wondered where the best place to sleep would be. He picked up a broom and began sweeping a large section of the dock so it was clean enough to lie down on. He had nothing better to do after all.

He looked up when he heard the squeaky hinges on the door, alerting him to the presence of someone.

"Hello?" called a familiar voice. "Duncan?" The light from a torch settled on his face and he blinked into it.

"Princess!" he said happily, throwing the broom away. He had to say, he really hadn't expected her to show up here. Things were about to get  _very_ interesting.

"I wish you'd stop calling me that," Courtney huffed. Really? She'd come all the way out to the boathouse and she was still going to act like she was above him? Well, two could play at that game. Besides, he knew she secretly loved the nickname. He'd grown rather fond of it himself. What started off as a way to piss her off had somehow turned into his own little term of endearment. And it still pissed her off, which was an added bonus.

"So, come to claim that kiss?" Duncan asked cheekily.

"Even pigs deserve a meal," Courtney shoved a bowl of gruel at him. Ah, she'd come under the pretence of giving him food. Smart. Duncan peered at the gruel. He was so not eating that.

"Hmm… no thanks," he declined. "I'll stick with the bait," he joked. Courtney gave a small laugh as she dusted off a crate and sat down.

"Yeah, well that's all Chef would serve us after our pathetic performance on the obstacle course," she smiled. Duncan grabbed a bucket and sat down next to her, throwing away the gruel in the process. Duncan stared at her a moment, still trying to figure out exactly why she was there. She'd spent so long trying to pretend she didn't like him, and now she was smiling and chatting with him like there had never been any animosity between them.

"Why do you egg Chef on like that? You know you're going to get in trouble," Courtney said. And now she was concerned for his welfare? Duncan could not figure her out.

"Why are you so uptight all the time?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I am not uptight!" Courtney said defensively, standing up.

"You always follow the rules!" Duncan scoffed.

"Well, you always have to break them!" Courtney pointed out.

"Only the ones I want to," Duncan winked suggestively. Not that there was a rule against making out in the boathouse, but he was sure it was frowned upon.

"Okay," Courtney conceded, turning away from him. "So, maybe I do follow the rules. I guess that makes me a big uptight loser in your books, right?" she asked uncertainly. Duncan grinned, knowing he was finally breaking down her walls. She'd never admitted to caring what he thought about her before, but she suddenly seemed so vulnerable.

"Maybe," he shrugged.

"Ugh!" she groaned in frustration.

"So then why do you follow them?" Duncan asked her.

"Because not following them gets you thrown into a fish cabin!" she retorted, brandishing a dead fish at him. Okay that much was true. He didn't exactly like it in the fish cabin. But she'd followed him out here, and he was pretty sure Chef wouldn't like it if he found out. He took a step towards her, looking at her like she was something he wanted to devour. And honestly, he really did.

"But I'm in the fish cabin with you, aren't I?" he said huskily, leaning in so he could clearly see the freckles on her nose. He watched her smile slightly at his words, a slight blush tinging her face. As far as he was concerned that was as good as a confession. "Feel like ditching this crap for some peanut butter and jam?" he asked. He felt like he was finally getting somewhere with her.

"Are you kidding?" Courtney said excitedly. "All I've had for two days is this gruel!" She seemed to remember herself then and her face fell. "But Chef will never give it to us," she sighed.

"See, now that's the problem with your thinking!" Duncan told her. "The trick is to not ask for it," he smirked wickedly.

"Do you have some on you?" Courtney laughed hesitantly.

"No," Duncan replied. She still wasn't getting it. "But I happen to know where to find it. It will involve breaking quite a few rules though," he warned. "Are you in?" Somehow he felt a vibe from her that she'd do anything tonight. And he was cautiously saying all the right things to get her to agree with him, without her realising she'd been coerced. He didn't doubt that she'd have fun once she finally let loose. It was just getting her to drop her guard that was the hard part. And now it seemed like he'd finally done it. She deliberated for a moment, but Duncan knew what her answer would be.

"Let's do it!" she grinned. Duncan high fived her.

"Well alright then," Duncan said approvingly.

* * *

She knew she was being crazy. But from the moment she stepped into the boathouse, something else took hold of her. It was probably the lack of food and sleep, but she found herself easily convinced by Duncan's case. And he was flirting with her, and she was blushing and she really wanted to kiss him.

She didn't of course, but she did go along with his plan to steal food right from under Chef's nose. They disguised themselves as bushes, and then snuck into the craft services tent, while Chef was too busy telling his boring war stories again.

"If we get caught, we are so dead," Courtney whispered as Duncan filled a bag with all the best food. She didn't feel scared though. In fact, a part of her  _wanted_ to get caught. She wasn't sure what she'd do then, she just knew she was tired of always being the one who followed all the rules. And Duncan finally saw her as something more than just a girl her could tease.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Duncan whispered. She laughed, somewhat wickedly. She didn't know what had gotten into her, but she was loving it.

"Heck yes! This is the most fun I've had here yet!" she exclaimed. She pulled the dead fish from the bag and put it into the fridge. "A little present, courtesy of the Killer Bass," she said smugly. Duncan laughed quietly.

"Now you're learning," he complimented, putting his arm around her. Courtney did her best not to tremble under his touch. They closed the fridge and snuck out of the tent, running back to the cabins.

"Woohoo!" Courtney cheered as she ran. She felt fearless and carefree, something she didn't think she'd ever felt before. Her blood rushing through her veins, her head spinning. She had no idea breaking the rules would be this much fun. She'd definitely have to do it again sometime. Especially if Duncan was going to be there.

"Hey guys!" Duncan yelled as they reached the cabin. "We brought you a surprise!"

"Aren't you supposed to be in solitary confinement?" Harold asked.

"Shut up, nerd. Here, have a cookie," he shoved a biscuit into Harold's hands as the room flooded with all the other campers.

"Where did you get all this?" Owen admired, grabbing a jar of jam.

"We stole it from Chef," Courtney said proudly.

" _You_ stole from Chef?" Bridgette asked Courtney disbelievingly. "I never thought I'd see the day."

They all ate and chatted and laughed, everyone's spirits seem to lift at the arrival of some real food. Courtney was half expecting Chef to walk in at any moment and bust them, but eventually her fears drifted away and she was able to relax and enjoy herself. She enjoyed herself so much that she ate a little  _too_ much.

"I think you've had enough," Bridgette laughed.

"No, just one more," Courtney laughed hysterically, shoving more food into her face. She immediately regretted it, however, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. She let out an embarrassing burp and groaned at her stomach ache. "Yeah, that one was a mistake," she admitted. She quickly ran outside, feeling like she was going to vomit. She threw herself over the railing on the steps out the front of the cabin and chucked her guts up. This was so not how she had wanted the night to end. But then, even with the throwing up, she was still having more fun that she could ever remember having.

"So the princess has a dark side," Duncan drawled as he came out to join her on the porch.

"Okay, that was so gross," she said, embarrassed. "But it was like, once I did something bad it was so much fun I just wanted more!" Duncan actually looked impressed, instead of grossed out as he wiped her face clean.

"Well, you could always give me that kiss. That'd be pretty bad," he suggested. She knew he didn't think she'd do it.

"You're still not my type," she scoffed, ruffling his Mohawk. Hmm, his hair felt really nice.

"Fine, enjoy a peanut butter-less life," he said, as if he couldn't care less.

"Thanks," she smirked. "Enjoy prison."

"I will," he said. God, he was so dumb. She loved it. Her heart pounded as she turned to him, grabbing his face in her hands. She knew she had to do this now, while she still had the courage. She leant in, closing her eyes, and pressed her lips to his. He was surprised at first and it took him a second to relax into the kiss, but once he did, she couldn't believe she'd waited so long to do it. She could feel her heart thumping erratically and she knew, like somehow she'd always known deep down, that he was the one. She pulled away then, before it went any further. She didn't want to take it too far tonight. Plus she wanted to see the lines on her chest.

She gave him a look that promised more to come as she left him and walked into her own cabin. He could barely keep the look of astonishment off his face as he watched her walk away.

"Attention remaining boot camper groups!" Chef's voice came through the speakers. "The next evolution of your training begins tomorrow morning, at 0700 hours. And if I catch the sucker that took my dessert, your butt is mine!"

Alone in her cabin, Courtney lay down on her bunk, her heart still beating erratically. She tried to calm her breathing before she stripped off her sweater and blouse and gazed down at the lines on her chest. They were now florescent green, glowing in the dark, and she grinned at them idiotically as she flopped her head back down on her pillow, feeling giddy. She had found her soulmate. And somehow nothing else really mattered anymore, because she was totally and ecstatically happy for the first time in… well in forever.

The door burst open and Courtney quickly covered her bra-clad chest with her top, but it was only Bridgette.

"You alright?" Bridgette asked. Courtney nodded. She sat up and slowly pulled her top away to show Bridgette the lines. Bridgette gasped and then she squealed before running and jumping onto Courtney's bunk. "Duncan?" she asked, her eyes flashing. Courtney nodded, unable to keep the smile off her face any longer.

"I can't believe it!" Bridgette breathed. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Courtney replied.

* * *

At 6:55 the next morning, Courtney didn't even bother trying to appear cool as she ran out of her cabin to find Duncan. He was with Geoff, but Courtney didn't really care. What was the point in trying to play coy anymore? They were soulmates and they both knew it. Why hide it?

She skipped up behind him and planted a kiss on his cheek. He turned to her in surprise.

"Courtney?" he said in bewilderment, almost as if last night had never happened. Had something changed? Or was he just surprised she was so eager?

"What?" she shrugged. "I'm tired of pretending I don't like you. Can we just forget everything else and enjoy our time together while we're on this island? I have to admit, you make it hell of a lot more bearable," Courtney confessed. Duncan's face broke into a grin.

"I'm glad you feel that way," he said, as Geoff pretended he wasn't listening to the whole thing. Duncan grabbed Courtney's hand and kissed her gently. "Now let's go kick some Gopher butt," he proclaimed. The three of them made their way to a huge tree where Chef and the three Gophers left in were waiting.

"Alright," Chef yelled into his megaphone. Didn't he know that the point of having a megaphone was so that he didn't have to yell? "Y'all will hang from this tree until there is only one person left. The last person wins the challenge for their team and the other team will have to vote someone off. You hear me?" Chef announced. They all nodded and Courtney, Duncan, Geoff, Gwen, Owen and Heather climbed the tree.

It wasn't long till all the blood rushed to Duncan's head and he fell to the ground.

"Duncan!" Courtney cried, hoping he was okay. Bridgette rushed to his side.

"It's okay! He's alright!" she assured Courtney. A minute later Heather decided she was done and dropped out of the tree gracefully, until Owen fell on top of her. Courtney somehow found this hysterically funny, and she couldn't stop laughing.

"Stop laughing this instant!" Chef ordered.

"I'm sorry!" Courtney continued giggling. "I can't help it!" She laughed so hard she fell out of the tree, landing on her hands and knees.

"I expected more out of you, soldier," Chef told her disappointedly. Courtney cleared her throat, feeling a sudden surge of rebelliousness coming on.

"Master Chief?" she said. "I just have one thing to say to you."

"And what might that be?" Chef asked seriously.

"You really need to take a chill pill," Courtney informed him, before erupting into a fresh round of hysterical laughter. She walked back over to Duncan who was laughing appreciatively.

"Yeah!" he nodded. "That's what I'm talking about!" They high fived before slipping each others arms around one another. It felt so right, Courtney felt like an idiot for letting herself believe he was no good for her for so long.

"Okay, Geoffy! It's all up to you!" Courtney called. Of course, thirty seconds later, Geoff was a pile on the ground and Gwen had won the challenge for the Gophers. And Courtney couldn't really bring herself to care.

* * *

Courtney lay beneath the stars, on the grass with Duncan beside her. His fingers twirled around her hair as he gazed into her eyes.

"I never thought I could be so lucky," he said quietly.

"Shut up and kiss me," Courtney whispered. Duncan didn't hesitate as he lowered his mouth to hers. He hovered above her, his chest pressed against hers, one hand gripping her thigh. He lowered his kisses to her neck she hummed satisfactorily. The hand on her thigh travelled upwards, grazing her ass to rest underneath her top on her waist.

"Duncan," she rasped.

"Mmm?" Duncan replied between kisses.

"We should stop," she told him. "We'll be late for the campfire ceremony."

"You're right. It's all good, we have nothing but time," he said, lifting his head. He smiled at her and she smiled back. "Harold's gone tonight, and we'll win the next challenge, no doubt. And we must be getting close to the merge." Duncan assured her. Courtney nodded.

"Come on," she said and they reluctantly got up and made their way to the campfire.

"I only have five marshmallows on my plate," Chris declared. "And these marshmallows represent the campers that will continue to be campers… here," he said dramatically. Courtney rolled her eyes and shared a look with Duncan. He grinned back at her.

"You've all cast your ballots in the confession can," Chris continued. "If I do not call your name, you must immediately go down to the dock of shame, catch the boat of losers, and go home. And you can't come back. Ever." He finished. Yeah, yeah, Courtney thought to herself. They'd heard it all before. Could he just get on with it so they could get rid of Harold and enjoy the rest of their night? She shot a look of pure evil at Harold. He was so going down.

"Duncan. DJ. Bridgette. Geoff. Campers. This. Is the final marshmallow. Of the night." Chris announced. Courtney watched Harold, confident in her own survival in this competition. Which was why it was such a shock to hear the word "Harold" out of Chris's mouth.

Courtney gasped in shock. Was this some elaborate ploy to get her out of the competition?

"What?" she shrieked. All her earlier happiness evaporated and all she felt was pure rage. She had been made to look like a fool, and she would not stand for it. "You guys voted for  _Harold_ over  _me_?" she accused. But she looked at the faces of her teammates and they looked as devastated as she was.

"Yes, yes, it's always a shock," Chris said flatly.

"This is impossible!" Courtney cried. "I demand a recount!"

"Aw, seriously dude, I know for a fact there were three of us who didn't vote her off!" Duncan told Chris, standing up for her. Chris just clicked his fingers and Chef came barging through. Chris and Chef grabbed Courtney by the arms and dragged her down to the dock.

"I do not concede!" Courtney screamed. "I do not concede!"

"Aw man this sucks," she heard Duncan curse.

"I was your only hope!  _I_ was a counsellor in training!" she was saying anything now, trying to find some reason for Chris to let her stay. This couldn't be happening. "Let go of me!" she snapped at Chris and Chef, and they happily obliged, throwing her onto the boat of losers.

"You are going to hear from my attorney," she warned them from the deck of the boat.

"Courtney, wait!" she heard Duncan call. She stood up, her pulse quickening. She smiled at him as the boat drew away from the dock. "I made this for you!" he called, tossing her something.

"Duncan!" she cried, catching the gift in her hands. She looked down to see a wooden carving of a skull. "Okay, this is really weird and creepy… but… I love it!" She hugged the skull to her chest. "I'll never forget you!" she called back to him. How could she when she had these green lines marking her chest, reminding her that her other half was still on this island without her. She waved goodbye, but knew she had to see him again someday when the competition was over. You don't just meet your soulmate and then forget it ever happened.

* * *

Duncan trudged back to his cabin where Geoff and DJ were waiting.

"You okay, man?" DJ asked. Duncan shrugged.

"It's probably for the best," he sighed, collapsing onto his bunk.

"What do you mean?" Geoff asked. "Don't you want to be with her?"

"Of course I do," Duncan scoffed. "But… I didn't tell you guys," he sighed again.

"Tell us what?" DJ asked suspiciously. Duncan's mouth formed into tight line as he pulled his shirt over his head.

"Oh," Geoff stated dumbly. "We thought…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, me too," Duncan said flatly, looking down at the still black lines on his chest. "But we aren't soulmates. She said she just wanted to enjoy our time together, and I was happy to… but you know if we're destined to be with other people then I guess it's probably better this way."

"I thought you didn't believe in all that stuff anyway," DJ pointed out.

"Maybe I don't," Duncan shrugged. It didn't make any sense. When she'd kissed him it felt so right... and yet the universe was somehow telling him it wasn't. He wasn't sure if he believed in soulmates or not, and he wasn't in the mood to figure it out. "Whatever. It's over now. It was fun while it lasted."

"Who do you think you soulmate is then?" Geoff asked.

"I have no fucking idea," Duncan said. And he didn't really want to know either. He lay back on his bed and closed his eyes. He hoped maybe he could dream about something that would take him away from this god forsaken island, but he could only dream of Courtney.


	10. In the Daylight We'll be on Our Own

No one really seemed that surprised to see Courtney show up at Playa des Losers that night. They greeted her coolly and then went back to their own business. Courtney was actually a little offended that they weren’t more welcoming, but as she surveyed the people who she’d have to spend the next few weeks with, she realised she didn’t like any of them anyway.

“You get to choose your own room,” Beth told her as Courtney walked in the front door. That was about all anyone said to her that night, and she didn’t bother trying to make conversation with any of them.

She sighed as she dragged her suitcase up to the second floor and pushed the door open to an empty room. She supposed this room was as good as any. She didn’t bother turning any of the lights on, she just dropped her suitcase on the ground and threw herself onto the king size bed. She sunk into the comfortable mattress and closed her eyes. As annoyed as she was that she had been eliminated, she had to admit this place was nice. She’d barely seen any of it yet but it looked pretty fancy. It was a small consolation for losing out on a hundred thousand dollars.

She was too tired to be angry tonight though, and it wasn’t long until she was asleep, still wearing her clothes and shoes.

-

She woke up the next day, not having a clue what time it was. It was completely dark in her room, thanks to the heavy curtains that covered the windows. She sat up groggily, forgetting for a moment where she was and what had happened. Then it all came flooding back to her and she felt a fresh surge of anger at the injustice of it all.

Somehow in the course of the competition she’d found her soulmate, actually made a _friend_ (or two), had more fun than she’d had in her life and felt like she was on top of the world, only to have it all snatched from her in a matter of seconds. And she hadn’t seen it coming _at all._ If this was an intentional blindside from the rest of her team, then they’d really gotten her good. But Duncan had seemed sincere when he said he hadn’t voted for her. So what had gone wrong then?

Her stomach flipped over when she thought about Duncan. She really wanted him to win the competition, but at the same time she couldn’t wait to see him again. In the mean time she may as well enjoy this resort. She slipped out of bed and walked over to the window and pulled oped the curtains, letting the light stream inside, almost blinding her. The window in fact turned out to be a door out to a balcony, which she opened and stepped out.

She breathed in the fresh sea air and looked down over the pool area, where Ezekiel, Katie and Sadie were already relaxing. They weren’t exactly her favourite people, but the sun was beating down on her face and the water looked inviting, so she decided to join them. She slipped into her bathing suit and glanced at herself in the mirror. The green lines on her chest were visible while she was wearing her bathing suit, swirling up over her collar bone like vines. She touched them cautiously, still slightly in disbelief that it had even happened. She smiled to herself, glad she’d finally let her guard down for someone.

She remembered Sadie telling her that it was supposed to hurt when you were away from your soulmate, but Courtney couldn’t feel any pain yet, and she wondered if Sadie had been lying. Courtney shook her head slightly before exiting her room and walking downstairs.

“Hey Courtney,” Cody greeted her as he came out of what appeared to be the dining room, as he was carrying a piece of toast. He was still heavily bandaged in some places but he no longer needed a wheelchair.

“Hi,” Courtney replied warily, wondering why Cody was talking to her. She was pretty sure they’d never spoken before.

“Everyone’s going to want to hear about how you got eliminated,” he told her as they walked outside to the pool area.

“No one seemed to care last night,” Courtney pointed out.

“Yeah, apparently Eva instated a rule where you aren’t allowed to ask people about their elimination until the next day. Ezekiel said she nearly killed him that first night,” Cody informed her.

“I guess that makes sense,” Courtney replied.

“Yeah,” Cody nodded. “Hey,” his eyes widened, finally noticing her soulmate mark, “have they always been that colour?” he asked. Courtney shook her head. “I’m guessing they’ll want to know about that too,” he chuckled. At that moment Courtney felt someone shove past her roughly and she looked up to see Eva glaring at her. Courtney gulped. She hadn’t exactly been looking forward to seeing her eliminated teammates, and for good reason it seemed.

“Watch where you’re going, traitor,” Eva spat. From Ezekiel to Sadie, Courtney had voted for all of them and it seemed like Eva wasn’t one to let things go easily. Courtney could hardly blame her, as soon as she found out who voted for her she was going to have their heads.

“Nice to see you too, Eva,” Courtney said calmly.

“Whatever,” Eva stormed off to sit by the pool bar. Courtney rolled her eyes and went to sit by the pool. According to Cody, everyone was going to want to hear about her elimination eventually, but if they wanted to know then they could ask her. She wasn’t about to offer up the information.

But as it turned out it didn’t take long for them to come and ask her. Katie and Sadie settled into a pool lounger next to her, and Courtney eyed them cautiously. Had they forgiven her for yelling at them and getting them eliminated? After all, she was the one who had each time demanded that they be the ones to go. But then again, they didn’t know that.

Courtney couldn’t help but notice now that both the girls marks had now turned pink, where before they had been black.

“Your marks…” Courtney noted.

“Oh yeah,” Sadie nodded. “We missed each other so much that when we were reunited the first thing we did was kiss. I don’t know why we waited so long to do it!”

“It turns out it hurts less to be away from them if your marks are already coloured as well,” Katie informed Courtney. Well, that explained Courtney’s lack of pain from her separation from Duncan. She looked around at the other eliminated contestants. Noah and Cody had claimed pool loungers near her as well. Izzy and Beth bobbed in the pool, holding onto the edge, while Justin sat on the edge, dangling his legs into the water. Eva, Ezekiel and Tyler sat by the pool bar, still within earshot. Even if they hated her, they were still interested to find out what had been going on at Camp Wawanakwa for the past week.

Tyler, Sadie and Katie were the only ones whose marks were coloured, and Cody was the only other one who actually had a mark.

“Does yours hurt?” Courtney asked him. Cody nodded.

“It’s weird though. It’s been hurting since the moment I got it, when I first stepped onto the island. Even though she was right in front of me,” Cody sighed.

“Do you know who it is then?” Courtney asked. There was a collective groan from everyone around her and she guessed that they’d heard this story one too many times.

“Oh yeah,” Cody nodded, ignoring the reaction of the others. “It’s definitely Gwen.” Courtney looked at him disbelievingly. It seemed pretty obvious to her that Gwen was into Trent. She didn’t pay all that much attention to Gwen, but everyone on the island could tell she had a huge crush on Trent. Surely Cody could see it too? She said as much to him.

“Oh I know she likes Trent,” Cody nodded, “but I still know she’s my soulmate. She just doesn’t know it yet. She’ll figure it out when she kisses Trent and her marks don’t turn to colour,” Cody said positively.

“If you say so…” Courtney said. What did she care if Cody wanted to pine after some girl who didn’t want him back?

“Okay, Courtney,” Beth interrupted. “It’s time for you to tell us about your elimination and the challenge,” she lisped.

“And why your marks are green now,” Katie giggled. Courtney sighed and began to tell them about how Chef took over the challenge, and how they had horrible food and barely slept and that Gwen had won the challenge for the Gophers.

“That’s my girl,” Cody sighed. Courtney grimaced. Cody’s obsession with Gwen was more than a little disturbing.

“Anyway, then I guess my team voted me off, even though we had all agreed it would be Harold, seeing as how Duncan…” Courtney trailed off, embarrassed. She didn’t really want to talk about her relationship with Duncan with these people. None of whom she liked, and she was pretty sure none of them liked her either.

“Duncan, huh?” Cody mused, guessing what the end of her sentence was going to be. “That explains the green,” he chuckled.

“Well, anyway. That’s it,” she shrugged.

“Justin, I’m going to work out before my mandatory anger management class, are you coming?” Eva yelled at Justin.

“Sure,” Justin nodded. “See you later, babe,” Justin leant down and gave Izzy a kiss. Courtney stared at them in bewilderment. That was unexpected.

“I think I’ll join you guys,” Tyler said, standing up to follow Justin and Eva. “I’ve gotta work on my guns.” The three of them wandered off to the gym. Katie and Sadie were quick to follow, giggling the whole time about how hot Justin was.

“Hey homies, who wants to play volleyball, yo?” Ezekiel offered. Everyone ignored him so he just went and sat in the spa. Beth, Cody and Izzy delved into a conversation about who was the most likely to win the hundred thousand. It sounded like a conversation they’d had many times.

“Welcome to paradise,” Noah muttered to her as he stood up and walked inside. Courtney sighed. Alone again. She wished Duncan was there with her. Or even Bridgette. She wasn’t the kind of person who had ever really needed companionship, she’d always felt she was better off alone. But now things had changed, and she wanted somebody to talk to. But she knew no one here liked her, even if most of them had been civil to her for twenty minutes while she updated them on the competition. She would just have to wait until someone she liked was eliminated.

-

When Harold stepped off the boat two nights later, Courtney was half disappointed and half relieved. She was so sick of the people around her, none of them could hold a decent conversation. She’d tried talking to Cody and Beth, but they were so _optimistic_ all the time, it was very tiring. Then she’d tried talking to Noah, figuring he might actually be intelligent and not annoying, but he could only talk about himself. She didn’t even bother with the rest of them. They were all so… _idiotic._ She was sure there was probably one brain cell between the lot of them. And now Harold had arrived to add to the utter madhouse this place already was.

As per Eva’s rule, no one asked Harold about the challenge or his elimination that night, thought everyone was intrigued as to why the first thing he said when he got off the boat was “boobies” dreamily.

-

The next day, Harold informed them all about the extreme sports challenge, and how the Bass had lost after Geoff had been thrown into a pile of socks by a moose, Harold himself had lost concentration momentarily and Duncan had failed to stop Lindsay from winning the challenge.

“And we have to ask,” Beth said after Harold had told his tale. “Your marks… were they always orange?” Everyone turned their attention to the jagged lines on Harold’s chest. The shape almost looked a bit like a star.

“Ahh, no,” Harold sighed nostalgically. “That happened when I was kissed by my fair Leshawna!”

“Leshawna?” Sadie shrieked in surprise.

“But Leshawna didn’t have any marks…” Beth remembered.

“Alas,” Harold said sadly. “But I will not give up hope!”

“You mean it’s true?” Courtney burst out, remembering the myth Bridgette had told her a few weeks ago. Only now it seemed like it wasn’t a myth. “There are people whose soulmate doesn’t match?” Harold nodded but he never looked at her. Come to think of it, he’d been avoiding her gaze all day.

“I think I’m going to take a nap,” Harold decided and abruptly stood up to go inside. Everyone else had already lost interest in him anyway. Courtney, however, wanted to talk to him further. Well, she didn’t really want to talk to _him,_ but she wanted to ask about Duncan and Harold was the person who had seen him the most recently.

She caught up with him just as he stepped into the elevator. His eyes widened when he saw her and he hurriedly pressed the close doors button, but she was too quick and she managed to slip inside.

“Harold,” Courtney greeted him.

“Courtney,” Harold gulped, still not meeting Courtney’s eyes. She narrowed her eyes at him, but of course he didn’t notice.

“How’s Duncan? Did he say anything about me?” she asked, ignoring Harold’s weird behaviour.

“He’s fine I guess,” Harold shrugs. “He doesn’t talk to me.” He continued to stare anywhere but at Courtney.

“Harold what is going on?” Courtney asked suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Harold said nervously. Courtney pursed her lips at him, sure there was something he wasn’t telling her. He risked a glance at her then, before quickly turning away again.

“What?” Courtney snapped causing Harold to flinch.

“Your marks are green,” he noted.

“So what?” Courtney said flippantly. She was really getting tired of this.

“I didn’t realise, I’m sorry,” Harold whispered.

“What are you sorry about?” Courtney scowled. Seriously, what was he going on about? Was it something to do with Duncan? The elevator stopped then and the doors opened. Harold made to leave but Courtney grabbed him by the wrist. “You aren’t going anywhere until you tell what is going on,” she hissed.

“Well…” he said slowly. He brought his eyes up to meet hers finally. “Don’t be mad… but your elimination… well it was kinda my fault,” Harold gulped, bracing himself for Courtney’s wrath.

“Your fault how?” she narrowed her eyes. She knew he’d probably voted for her, but she didn’t see how one vote made it his fault.

“I… swapped the votes,” Harold said quickly.

“YOU WHAT?!” Courtney shrieked. Harold managed to slip from her grasp and out of the elevator. Courtney followed him out of the elevator but didn’t chase him down the hall. “YOU BETTER RUN!” she screamed after him. “BECAUSE IF I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU ARE SO DEAD, HAROLD MCGRADY!”

In the meantime, she was so getting in contact with her lawyers.


	11. My Thoughts Will Echo Your Name

Duncan and the rest of the guys felt that their trip to the five star resort was well deserved. Thank god for Owen being on their team, because no one else could have knocked back all those blended cockroach shots. The five guys boarded the cruise ship excitedly, ready to head off to their destination.

“Yeah!” Owen cheered. “Team guy!”

“Team guy!” the other guys shouted back. Well, all the other guys excluding Geoff.

“Geoff?” DJ approached the blonde. Geoff was unusually melancholy as he stared out the window of the ship. “What’s wrong, brother?”

“Nothing,” Geoff sighed. “I just miss Bridgette.”

“You saw her five minutes ago,” Duncan pointed out, rolling his eyes. After all, he missed Courtney but you didn’t see him moping about it.

“Come on, dude,” Trent coaxed, “we’re about to have an awesome weekend at a five star resort. You gotta lighten up!”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Geoff instantly brightened. “Bridge will still be there when we get back! So let’s party!” Duncan was amazed at how easily Geoff’s mood changed.

When they arrived at the resort, the boys could barely contain their glee at the palace that greeted them. They stepped off the ship and onto a dock where two women were waiting to meet them.

“Hi, welcome to Palm Hotel Retreat!” one of the girls said cheerfully. “I’m Amber and this is Greta and we’ll be your hosts this weekend.”

“Hiiii,” Owen drawled, eyeing Amber appreciatively. Duncan chuckled at Owen’s lack of subtlety. The man was practically drooling.

“Follow us and we’ll take you to your rooms!” Greta smiled. The two ladies picked up the boys luggage and led them to the penthouse of the resort.

“There’s five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a minibar, an entertainment room, and a living room,” Greta listed.

“Here are your schedules for the weekend,” Amber handed each of the boys a pamphlet which listed the various spa treatments they’d be receiving. “Don’t worry, there’s plenty of free time for you boys,” Amber laughed.

“And if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call us!” Greta winked at DJ who blushed deeply.

“Alright, you boys relax for the rest of the evening and we’ll see you tomorrow morning!” Amber said brightly. The two girls then left the boys on their own in the penthouse.

“Whoa,” Owen said dreamily as they left.

“Put your tongue back in your mouth, you big oaf,” Duncan sniggered.

“Yeah, but did you see her?” Owen replied.

“Maybe she’s your soulmate!” Geoff laughed. Owen quickly looked down his shirt.

“Nope, still blank,” Owen sighed.

“Me too,” DJ agreed.

“Guys, I think he was joking,” Trent grinned, causing all the boys to burst into laughter.

“Do you think there’s alcohol in here?” Duncan asked, walking over to the mini bar. He opened to fridge door only to be disappointed.

“Like they’re going to leave alcohol here for a bunch of sixteen year olds,” Trent pointed out.

“Well, where do you think we can get some?” Duncan asked.

“You don’t suppose Amber and Greta would bring us some?” Owen suggested.

“Doubt it,” Geoff sighed.

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to steal it!” Duncan cracked his knuckles. His time had finally come.

-

The alcohol heist went off without a hitch, and the boys brought their hooch back to the penthouse.

“Guys, what if someone finds out?” DJ whispered as they reached their room.

“Pfft, what are they gonna do, send me back to juvie?” Duncan scoffed. He looked at the label of a bottle he was holding to check what it was. “Schnapps,” he mused. “Well, I’ve never had that before.” He opened the bottle and took a swig. The boys all headed for the massive leather lounge suite that sat in the centre of the room, facing an enormous television screen.

“I’ve never had any of this before,” DJ admitted eyeing a bottle of vodka cautiously. He took a sip out of the bottle before his eyes bulged out of his head. “Ohh, that’s nasty!”

“Me either,” Trent agreed. He had a bottle of scotch in has hand. “I like it though.”

“I’ve only had beer before,” Geoff told them.

“Me too,” Owen nodded.

“You guys are weak,” Duncan snickered.

“What did you go to juvie for anyway, Duncan?” Trent asked. Duncan raised an eyebrow at him.

“That’s for me to know and you to never find out,” he said mysteriously. It was really none of the guys business.

“Aw, come on Duncan!” Geoff pleaded. “It’s just us guys. Why won’t you tell us?”

“Yeah, come on, Duncan!” Owen agreed. Duncan sighed. He supposed it didn’t really matter if they knew in the end.

“Fiiine,” he groaned. “It’s not very exciting though. I just got caught stealing one too many times. Plus they’d caught me vandalising a few times as well,” Duncan shrugged.

“But why were you stealing in the first place?” DJ wondered. “Is your family poor?”

“No, I just felt like it, okay?” Duncan snapped.

“Okay, sorry I asked,” DJ said. Duncan felt a little bad for snapping at DJ, but not bad enough to apologise.

-

Two bottles down, the boys were totally smashed and were beginning to tear the penthouse apart. DJ and Geoff had had a game of foosball until DJ passed out on the table. The other four boys carried him to his bed, only knocking his head against the wall three times on the way there. They threw DJ on the bed, and Owen promptly fell asleep next to him.

Trent, Duncan and Geoff snickered as they left the room, trying to be quiet but failing miserably. Luckily, DJ and Owen were totally dead to the world. The three guys who were still awake went back to the lounge suite and sprawled out, the energy they’d had from the alcohol suddenly leaving them.

“I don’t feel so good,” Trent groaned.

“I miss Bridgette,” Geoff sighed. “It hurts.”

“I miss Gwen,” Trent agreed. “This soulmate thing sucks.”

“I miss Courtney,” Duncan admitted. It must have been the alcohol forcing him to say things he’d normally keep to himself. He knew she wasn’t his soulmate, but he couldn’t help but feel robbed. He should’ve had much longer with her.

“Sorry dude,” Geoff said quietly.

“Why are you sorry? Did you vote for her?” Duncan accused.

“No, man! I told you, I voted Harold. We all did,” Geoff assured him.

“Then what the fuck happened?” Duncan asked, frustrated. He’d been over it and over it in his head and he couldn’t figure it out. Everyone claimed they’d voted Harold, yet Courtney was the one who’d been eliminated. As far as he could see, there were only two possible explanations.

“I dunno, man,” Geoff shrugged.

“Either Chris rigged the votes or someone on the island did,” Duncan muttered.

“Probably someone from the other team,” Geoff said, looking at Trent.

“Don’t look at me! Why would I want Courtney gone?” Trent defended.

“She was our best player, you know she was,” Duncan scowled. “Other than me of course.” Geoff snorted and Duncan glared at him.

“It was probably Heather. She’s the only one who would stoop so low as to mess with the votes,” Trent said knowingly, finishing his sentence with a yawn.

“You’re right, that bitch. It probably was her. She is going down,” Duncan vowed. “Will you guys help me?” he turned to Geoff and Trent, but the two of them were already asleep. Duncan sighed before wandering off to his own room, his head spinning from the alcohol.

-

It seemed liked ages since Harold had arrived on Playa des Losers, and they had no news from Camp Wawanakwa for some time. It was causing Courtney to go a little crazy. That, plus the fact that while Courtney had done her best to contact her lawyers, she wasn’t having much luck. They weren’t allowed to have any technology at the resort and snail mail wasn’t exactly working out for her. She couldn’t be totally sure that her letters were even being sent by the interns she gave them to. Chris was probably doing everything in his power to keep himself from getting involved in a lawsuit. But as soon as she got off this island nothing would come between her and her mission to sue Chris for all he was worth.

She was also having little luck locating Harold. She spent a good part of everyday searching for him so that she could wring his neck, but the little worm was apparently skilled at hide and seek. She was sure someone was helping him, bringing him food and whatnot, but she hadn’t yet worked out who it was.

A week after Harold’s arrival on Playa des Losers, they had a surprise visit from Chris. He stepped off a boat grinning evilly as per usual. Courtney was sure he had something perverse planned for the remaining contenders at Camp Wawanakwa. Courtney was almost glad she didn’t have to be a part of it. Almost, but not quite. She still wanted back on that island.

“Greetings, losers!” Chris said cheerily as he surveyed the group surrounding the pool. Everyone was there except for Harold who was still avoiding Courtney, and Eva who was at her mandatory anger management class. No one seemed particularly pleased to see Chris.

“What are you doing here?” Courtney sniffed suspiciously.

“I just thought I’d come and see how my favourite failures are!” Chris chuckled. Courtney rolled her eyes. She really did hate Chris.

“No one wants you here,” Noah told him flatly.

“I don’t care,” Chris grinned. “I’m not here for you. Izzy!” he said cheerfully, spotting the redhead swimming in the pool. “You got a moment?”

“Sure, Chris! You got the RCMP off my back, I owe you!” she giggled, springing out of the pool.

“And have you seen Eva?” Chris asked.

“She’s at anger management,” Izzy told him.

“Alright, well let’s go and find her,” Chris said and Izzy followed him into the hotel.

“What do you think he’s up to?” Courtney asked Noah.

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Noah responded without looking up from his book. Courtney pursed her lips. She was tempted to follow Chris and Izzy and eavesdrop on their conversation to find out what was going on. It didn’t seem like anyone else around her was particularly bothered by Chris’s appearance and his sudden interest in Eva and Izzy, the two craziest ex-contestants.

She stood up and was about to go after them when Chris and Izzy reappeared, followed by Eva. Eva and Izzy were carrying their bags and Courtney felt an uneasiness settle inside her.

“Wait, Chris, I have to say goodbye to my boyfriend!” Izzy said suddenly. She ran over to Justin and kissed him full on the mouth.

“I’m sorry, but this just isn’t going to work out. You understand right?” Izzy said.

“Sure,” Justin nodded, hardly even paying attention as he worked on his tan. Izzy ran back to walk with Eva behind Chris.

“Chris,” she said, falling in to step with him as he led Izzy and Eva back to the boat he’d arrived on. “What’s going on?”

“Eva and Izzy are re-entering the competition,” Chris informed her. Courtney blinked at him. Surely she’d heard him wrong.

“I think I misheard you,” Courtney smiled sweetly, although inside she was ready to snap. “I thought you said Eva and Izzy were re-entering the competition.”

“No, you heard right!” Chris grinned. He grabbed Izzy and Eva’s bags and threw them onto the boat. “All aboard!” he called. Izzy and Eva clambered onto the boat. “Oh, Izzy, I have a great idea for your entrance… you’ll have to come up with some kind of-,” Chris was saying.

“But you said, no one can come back ever!” Courtney interrupted, seething. This was totally unfair. If anyone was going to re-enter the competition it should be her! Everyone hated Eva! She’d never last. And Izzy was a criminal! Okay, well so was a certain guy Courtney liked, but that was beside the point!

“Yeah, I lied,” Chris said flatly, not even looking at Courtney.

“It should be me going back!” she shrieked. “I was unfairly eliminated, Harold switched the votes!”

“I don’t care,” Chris told her. “These two are going to boost ratings! They’re crazy!” he hopped onto the boat after them.

“I can be just as crazy as them!” Courtney whined desperately.

“No one’s denying that,” Chris chuckled. “But I make the rules, and I say Eva and Izzy are coming back! So, see ya!” he smirked as the boat took off.

“You are going to regret this Chris McLean!” Courtney screeched after him. “Once I get ahold of my lawyers, there is nothing in the world that will stop me from ruining you!” she yelled. She didn’t know if Chris could even hear her, but it made her feel a little better anyway. Well, for about a minute. She still had some anger issues she needed to work out.

“WHERE is Harold?” she yelled, startling everyone by the pool. “I am going to kill that skinny little freak!”

-

Everyone (except Harold) waited anxiously by the dock that night, waiting to see who would be eliminated. No one knew whether to be shocked or not when it turned out to be Eva.

“Eva, what happened?” Beth asked.

“WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT ASKING ABOUT ELIMINATIONS?” Eva screamed at her.

“Right, sorry,” Beth gulped.

“But if you MUST know, I got backstabbed again!” she growled before shoving past the crowd and walking inside.

“Well, that was short-lived,” said Noah.

“I would’ve lasted much longer,” Courtney muttered.

“You keep telling yourself that, honey,” Noah looked at her pityingly. Courtney scowled at him and marched inside.

-

As Duncan made his way back to his cabin, he couldn’t be unhappy that Eva had been eliminated, even if he had voted for Heather. Eva was psycho after all. Although after seeing all the voting confessionals he realised he could have teamed up with Eva to get rid of Heather.

He was annoyed that Eva and Izzy had come back when it could have been Courtney. Hadn’t Chris figured out yet that her elimination had been rigged by Heather? He felt someone shove his shoulder and the devil herself appeared beside him.

“Just so you know, it wasn’t my fault your little girlfriend got eliminated,” she said snarkily.

“Yeah, right, who else would have done it?” Duncan scowled.

“I know you punks love your little conspiracy theories, but did you ever think maybe your team just voted her off?” Heather suggested. Duncan stared at her. “Believe me, I have more important things to think about than who gets eliminated from the other team. But if it helps you sleep at night, think what you like. But if you vote for me again, you have my word that you’ll regret it,” Heather warned.

“Yeah, right, whatever,” Duncan snorted.

“Goodnight, Duncan,” Heather smirked and walked into the girls cabin, leaving Duncan alone in the dark, questioning whether or not he could trust the guys he thought were his friends. Then he scolded himself for listening to Heather at all. All she did was manipulate people. He sighed and walked into the cabin, only to find Geoff and Bridgette making out of Geoff’s bed.

“Oh, hey dude,” Geoff said, looking up, embarrassed. It only took one look at the pair to know that they were soulmates. Geoff’s wave shaped marks were now a brilliant shade of aqua and Duncan definitely saw a green that matched her eyes adorning Bridgette’s chest before he politely looked away. He heard the zipper of Bridgette’s hoodie and he figured it was safe to look again.

“Sorry to intrude,” Duncan smirked.

“I should go,” Bridgette said, standing up from Geoff’s bed. “Thanks again for taking those leeches for me today,” she smiled bashfully before leaving the cabin.

“So, that was what? A thank you kiss?” Duncan snickered.

“Shut up, dude,” Geoff grinned, throwing a pillow at Duncan.

“I’m happy for you, man,” Duncan said genuinely. He was happy for Geoff, he really was. And yet there was a small jealous tug at his heartstrings that he quickly shook off as the rest of the guys walked into the cabin. They immediately noticed Geoff’s chest and began congratulating him. Duncan joined in weakly before claiming he had a headache and needed to go to sleep.

 

 


	12. How Unfair, It's Just Our Luck

Everyone had kind of been expecting Izzy to be eliminated next, so when Trent showed up at Playa des Losers three days after Eva’s return, everyone was quite surprised. Eva glared at everyone, making sure everyone would follow her rule and not ask Trent anything that night.

The next day he was happy and ready to show of the midnight blue swirls across his chest. He puffed out his chest, strutting like a peacock to the pool bar, telling anyone who would listen that Gwen was his soulmate.

“Ah, ex-squeeze me?” Cody said when he heard. “Are you sure?” Courtney rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe Cody still thought Gwen was his soulmate. She could do so much better, and obviously had. The others all gathered around Trent at the pool bar to hear his tale.

“Well, she kissed me, and then later I checked and my mark was this colour,” Trent informed him.

“Ah, yes, but are _hers_ coloured?” Cody elaborated. Trent looked at him in confusion.

“What do you mean? Of course, that’s how it works,” Trent said patronisingly.

“Not necessarily,” Cody informed him smugly. “Just ask Harold.”

“Where is Harold?” Trent wondered, looking around.

“Oh, he doesn’t come out when Courtney’s around,” Cody said.

“Why not?” Trent looked to Courtney. She pursed her lips.

“ _Harold_ switched the votes and got me eliminated,” she seethed. Just thinking about it made her angry all over again.

“Oh, so it wasn’t Heather,” Trent noted. “But why’d he do it?”

“I have no idea,” Courtney realised. “He didn’t tell me and now he’s avoiding me.”

“Yeah, because you keep trying to kill him,” Beth pointed out.

“Can you blame me?” Courtney snapped.

“So Harold… his soulmate is Leshawna?” Trent asked. “But he isn’t hers?” he clarified.

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Cody nodded.

“Wow, that’s gotta suck. But I’ve never heard of it before, so it’s gotta be rare right? I mean there wouldn’t be _two_ people whose soulmates didn’t match on the one island…” he said anxiously.

“You’re probably right,” a melancholy voice came from behind them.

“HAROLD!” Courtney yelled, ready to throw her hands around his neck and strangle the life from him.

“Wait, don’t hurt him!” Trent cried.

“Why not?” Courtney retorted angrily.

“Just let him talk,” Trent pleaded. Courtney glared at Trent and Harold respectively.

“He has five minutes,” she warned.

“So what happened?” Trent asked.

“There’s not much to tell,” Harold shrugged. “We kissed. I already knew she didn’t have the marks. But there was nothing I could do. I was already gone,” he sighed.

“While you’re talking, why don’t you tell me WHY you got me eliminated,” Courtney growled.

“I was just trying to get back at Duncan for always picking on me,” Harold explained. “I saw you guys kiss and I knew he’d be devastated if you left.” Courtney wanted to strangle him all over again. He’d gotten her kicked off over a kiss?

“I hate you so much Harold! _Why_ did you have to take it out on me?” Courtney yelled. “You could’ve kicked off Duncan!”

“Yeah in hindsight that would’ve been a better decision,” Harold agreed.

“Okay, five minutes is up,” Courtney decided, lunging at Harold.

“Help!” Harold shrieked as Courtney’s hands wrapped around his neck. Tyler and Beth jumped in and tried to pull Courtney away.

“Let me have this!” she yelled.

“Courtney, I just noticed your marks are green,” Trent interrupted. Courtney was being held back by Beth and Tyler while Harold ran off.

“So what?” she shouted. “Let me go!” she snarled at Tyler and Beth. They backed away slowly, having decided Harold was far enough away. Courtney glared at them but turned to Trent, smoothing her hair and clothes after her outburst.

“I mean… did they… was it… who…?” Trent stammered. What was his problem?

“Duncan. Didn’t he tell you?” Courtney snapped. She had kind of just assumed everyone would know by now. He didn’t exactly care about showing off his chest, and she knew he slept without a shirt. And Trent had told them all earlier that the teams had been dissolved and all the guys were sleeping in a cabin tomorrow.

“No… I mean… I didn’t… he didn’t…” Trent looked at her with a troubled look in his eye. “Uh… maybe you and I should go somewhere private.” Courtney looked at Trent’s sympathetic face and noticed how he couldn’t seem to meet her eye and her heart dropped. She glanced at the people around her, feeling self conscious. She looked back at Trent. Something was definitely wrong. She knew she wasn’t going to like whatever he had to tell her.

“What is it?” she asked quietly. Trent glanced around before leaning in. He dropped his voice low so no one else could hear.

“Duncan… his mark… it’s still black,” Trent told her apologetically. Courtney felt all the air leave her lungs, and her eyes fluttered shut, the words hitting her like a brick to her stomach. It couldn’t be true.

“Are you sure?” she asked desperately. Maybe this was just some cruel trick. Trent just nodded. Courtney’s throat closed up, and she did her best to keep her voice steady as she spoke.

“I think I need to go and lie down,” she choked out. She turned and left quickly, the tears already pricking her eyes. She couldn’t let them see her cry. She was grateful Trent had done her the courtesy of keeping it quiet for now, but she was sure it wouldn’t be long before everyone knew.

She made it to her room without breaking down, but once the door was closed she couldn’t hold the tears in any longer. She collapsed face down on her bed, sobbing. She wanted to be angry. She knew how to deal with that. She wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. But all she could do was cry, and feel hopelessly, hopelessly alone.

-

Duncan found a nice cave for his hiding spot in the hide and seek challenge. It was remote and the perfect place for a meeting with the guys in order to establish an alliance. Once all the guys were there, Duncan began his proposal.

“Listen up boys, we’re in trouble, okay? There are six chicks on the island and only four dudes,” he informed them seriously.

“I know!” Geoff exclaimed. “Nice odds!” Duncan gave him a slap. That was so not the point. And what did Geoff care anyway? He’d already found his soulmate.

“No, buttbrain! Bad odds!” Duncan corrected him. “If I noticed it, chances are that sooner or later, _they’re_ gonna notice it too, and when they do, they’re gonna pick us off one by one. We’ve gotta do something about it,” he declared.

“It’s not like they’re exactly getting along,” DJ pointed out. “Remember this morning? Owen and I were waiting to use the bathroom when suddenly we hear a fight break out. It did not sound pretty,” DJ shook his head.

“Which is why we have to act now,” Duncan told him.

“I don’t know, dudes. Bridgette and me, we kinda hooked up,” he shrugged with a grin. Duncan rolled his eyes. Of course everyone knew Bridgette and Geoff had hooked up by now, and even if Duncan hadn’t walked in on them, Geoff _always_ had his shirt open. It wasn’t exactly a secret. “I don’t feel right about joining an alliance without her,” Geoff finished.

“Let me tell you the truth about women. They’re all sisters! And when push comes to shove they’re gonna stick together! Haven’t you ever seen a chick flick before?” Duncan scoffed.

“Well… yeah… but...” Owen said noncommittally.

“Look, man, now’s the time, while they don’t see it coming! While _we_ have the element of surprise!” Duncan convinced.

“Geez… I’m just not sure…” Owen hummed. Well, Duncan could think of a way to make him sure. Her dragged Owen out of the cave and hung him over a fairly small ledge. Owen didn’t know that though.

“Are you sure now?” Duncan asked threateningly.

“Okay! Okay! Okay!” Owen shouted in fear. “We’ll form our own alliance!” he agreed. Duncan dropped the big guy, pleased with the results of his intimidation tactics. Owen breathed a sigh of relief.

“Wow, Duncan. Juvie really made you a scary dude!” he chuckled nervously. Duncan grinned menacingly and the two of them made their way back to the cave.

“Good. Now that we’re all agreed, guys unite and save our butts from elimination,” Duncan said, holding his hand out.

“Agreed!” DJ and Owen put their hands on top of Duncan’s. Duncan looked up at Geoff.

“Uh, are you in dude?” he said expectantly. Look, he could appreciate that Geoff and Bridgette we’re soulmates. But this was still a competition. A competition where he knew he would be booted next if the girls got their butts into gear and formed a girl alliance. And that meant he needed Geoff on his side. Was he being selfish? Probably. He’d never quite mastered the skill of _not_ being selfish. But Geoff and Bridgette would still be soulmates after the competition was over, and Duncan was sure she would forgive Geoff. Geoff hesitantly put his hand on top of the pile, to Duncan’s pleasure.

“I am so psyched!” Owen cried happily. “A dude’s alliance! I love it! It’s so manly! Yeah! Come here!” he grabbed Duncan and DJ by the head and kissed both their faces, much to Duncan’s disgust.

“Alright now clear out,” Duncan told the guys.

“What?” Geoff said in surprise.

“I was here first, dude. This is my hiding spot,” Duncan informed him.

-

It was all strategic, Duncan swore. Voting Bridgette off had nothing to do with his weird jealousy he felt whenever he saw Geoff and Bridgette together. She was good at sports and everyone liked her. That was it. They couldn’t afford to keep her in the game. He just had to convince Geoff.

“Why don’t we vote Heather off?” Geoff suggested. “She’s got dirt on all of us, dude.” Duncan groaned inwardly. Sometimes Geoff was so stupid. 

“Because we _can’t_ ,” Duncan reminded Geoff. “She’s got invincibility again. Besides, everyone likes Bridgette, and she’s great at sports! We might not get another chance dude.” Duncan hoped his speech was convincing enough. “All in favour of booting Bridgette?” DJ and Owen put their hands in again, signalling their agreement.

“That settles it,” Duncan said, despite Geoff’s reluctance. He’d just have to hope Geoff saw the light before it was too late. “Here’s to the guys alliance! Geoff.” Duncan looked at the blonde pointedly. Geoff bit his lip before putting his hand in. Duncan breathed a sigh of relief.

The guys broke apart and Duncan headed out to the forest to try and sneak a cigarette. He’d managed to steal a pack from Chris, plus he still had his own lighter. Unfortunately he was stopped by Heather.

“What do you want?” he scowled.

“Who are you guys voting for?” Heather asked him.

“Like I’m gonna tell you,” Duncan sneered.

“If you tell me, I’ll vote with you. I’ll even act surprised when whoever it is gets booted,” Heather offered. Duncan considered it for a moment. He still didn’t know if he could totally rely on Geoff, and Heather’s vote would cinch the deal.

“Fine. It’s Bridgette,” he divulged.

“Great! See you at the campfire ceremony! Oh and you really should quit. Smoking kills, you know,” she smiled, pretending to be concerned about Duncan’s health.

“Yeah, just like you kill the mood,” Duncan muttered, putting the cigarette away. Heather skipped off to cast her vote and Duncan sighed and went after her.

-

Duncan scowled as Geoff confessed that he hadn’t voted for Bridgette. He should have known he couldn’t trust that guy.

After Bridgette had left on the boat of losers, Duncan sought out Geoff.

“You broke the alliance,” Duncan stated angrily.

“Oh, come on, dude. I love her! What would you have done if it were Courtney?” Geoff defended.

“I don’t love Courtney, but that’s beside the point. Even if I loved her, and even if she were my soulmate, I would’ve voted her off!” Duncan said, but he was lying through his teeth. He knew if Courtney were still there, there would be no way he’d let anyone get rid of her. And he certainly wouldn’t vote for her himself. “This is a competition, man!” Duncan reminded Geoff. “Not a dating show.”

“Yeah, well. Maybe when you meet your soulmate you’ll understand,” Geoff sniffed. “I don’t regret it.”

“Well, you still have to face the consequences of breaking the alliance,” Duncan told him. “DJ, Owen,” he called. “A little help?” Geoff gulped as DJ and Owen emerged from the shadows like hitmen. They grabbed Geoff by the arms as Duncan wrapped him in a sleeping bag and tied a rope around him, before the three of them strung him up in a tree.

“Now hopefully you’ll learn your lesson,” Duncan called up at him as he, DJ and Owen went into their cabin.


	13. I'm Better Off Alone Anyway

Courtney stood in her pyjamas and looked at herself in the mirror. The green lines that she had thought so pretty three days earlier now seemed as if they wanted to curl around her neck and strangle her to death. She jumped as she heard the boat horn, signifying the arrival of another camper. Despite feeling angry and sad, she was still curious enough to see who it was.

She watched from her balcony as the boat of losers drew up to the dock. She looked down at the other eliminated contests congregating, waiting to see who the next victim of the game was. Even Harold was down there. It seemed he felt safe enough to come out, seeing as Courtney had spent the last few days in her room alone. She couldn’t bear to go out and face the mockery (or worse, the pity) of her former teammates. It was humiliating. She’d written another three letters to her lawyers, but she was still having no luck. She was by now sure that the letters weren’t even being sent. At least she’d stopped crying.

Looking down on the group of people below, she saw a head of thick blonde hair step off the boat, and she knew Bridgette had been eliminated. She didn’t really know how she felt about that. Three days ago she would have been glad of someone to talk to, but now she didn’t really want to talk to anyone.

Bridgette was talking to Trent, and they both simultaneously looked up at where Courtney was standing on her balcony. _Subtle_ , she thought. They were obviously talking about her. She kept her face blank, though she was pretty sure they couldn’t actually see that far in the dark. She stepped back into her room without waving at Bridgette, closing the glass doors behind her and drawing the curtains before slipping into bed.

-

Someone was knocking on her door, waking Courtney from her blissful slumber, where none of this had ever happened. Unfortunately, reality called, and it came in the form of Bridgette.

“Courtney, let me in!” she called through the door. Courtney didn’t answer at first, but Bridgette kept knocking so Courtney sighed and slipped out of bed and opened the door a crack. Bridgette’s big green eyes stared back at her. Courtney sighed again and opened the door further, enough to let Bridgette inside before she shut and locked it again.

“How are you doing?” Bridgette asked.

“I’m brilliant,” Courtney said flatly. Bridgette’s eyes fell to the visible mark on Courtney’s chest and Courtney felt the urge to cover it with her hands, but she restrained herself. Bridgette had already seen it anyway.

“Trent said you haven’t spoken to anyone in three days,” Bridgette said.

“I don’t like anyone here,” Courtney shrugged.

“Courtney…” Bridgette started, and Courtney could hear the sympathy in her voice. That was the last thing she wanted.

“If you think I’m upset about Duncan, you’re wrong,” Courtney said firmly.

“Really?” Bridgette raised an eyebrow dubiously.

“Yes,” Courtney nodded. “I’ve just been so busy trying to get in touch with my lawyers I haven’t had time to get out of this room.”

“Your lawyers?” Bridgette questioned.

“Because I was unfairly eliminated due to Harold switching the votes,” Courtney informed her primly. She knew Bridgette wasn’t buying her ‘I’m perfectly fine’ act, but Courtney knew that if she told Bridgette the truth she’d probably just start crying again and that was _not_ happening. Courtney wasn’t the type of girl who cried over boys, even ones that were supposed to be her soulmate.

“Right,” Bridgette nodded. “Just answer one question.”

“What’s that?”

“Have you been eating? I mean no one’s seen you at any meal time…” Bridgette asked in concern.

“Of course,” Courtney smiled brightly. She hadn’t really been eating, of course. She wasn’t really hungry anyway, and the one time she had been she’d just snuck into the kitchen in the middle of the night to steal some food. She had experience in that area after all.

“Okay,” Bridgette nodded again, but Courtney could see she was still worried. “Why don’t you come and have breakfast and then we can go to the pool area? Everyone’s been really worried about you.”

“No they haven’t,” Courtney snorted. It was obviously Bridgette’s turn to lie. No one had bothered to come and see her so how worried could they have been? They were probably glad they hadn’t had to see her in three days. Harold especially. He really shouldn’t be allowed to just wander around freely when he’d done something so wrong.

“Bridgette. I promise I’m fine,” Courtney lied. “But I will join you, since I’ve had no luck with my lawyers. And of course I’d like to hear about what’s been happening in the competition.”

And while she was out there, she was going to double her efforts in punishing Harold. She figured she may as well channel her anger and sadness into something productive. Harold wasn’t going to know what hit him.

-

Somehow, despite the inaptitude of Owen, Geoff and DJ, the guys’ alliance was going swimmingly. They’d managed to eliminate both Bridgette and Lindsay, and now there were only four girls left. Duncan had it in his head that they should get rid of Leshawna next, because she seemed most likely to be a threat.

In the meantime though, they were being treated to a horror movie and they hadn’t had a challenge in three days, so Duncan was feeling pretty relaxed, unlike DJ, who was terrified of the movie.

“Aw, come on Deej,” Gwen said, “for a slasher flick it was pretty tame!” she pointed out, putting the movie away.

“Yeah, there was hardly any hacking!” Duncan agreed. “Not like Blood Bath 2: Summer Camp Reign of Terror!”

“No way, that’s my favourite movie!” Gwen burst out. Duncan grinned at her. He hadn’t known she liked horror movies. “I love when the killer jams that guy’s hand into the lawnmower!” Gwen continued excitedly.

“Ha! Or when he pushes the chick off the dock and she lands on a propeller blade that slices her in half!” Duncan added. He could see DJ was getting more and more spooked and it only egged him on. He glanced at Gwen and suddenly they were talking in unison.

“Or when he shoves that big dude’s head inside the woodchipper!” they cried animatedly and DJ flew into Leshawna’s arms. Duncan turned to Gwen and high fived her, happy with his handy work. Scaring DJ may have been easy, but it was still satisfying.

“Aww! Looks like Gwen and Duncan have more in common than bad fashion sense!” Heather mocked. Duncan did not appreciate what she was insinuating. “It’s just mindless guts and gore!”

“Horror movies aren’t mindless,” Gwen snapped.

“Yeah. They’re loaded with psychological trauma,” Duncan agreed. “Look at DJ,” he snickered. Leshawna promptly shoved DJ from her arms.

“Whatever!” Heather retorted. “Does anyone have any idea what our challenge will be this week?”

“Yeah,” Geoff wondered. “Where’s the Chrismeister?”

The group of them noticed Chef Hatchet by the dock, loading up a boat with suitcases. Curious, Duncan wandered over to see what was going on.

“Hey yo, Chef! Where’s the fire?” he asked jovially. Chef didn’t respond, just gave Duncan a terrified scare and jumped on the boat and it sped away with Chef and Chris inside. Okay, Duncan knew he was a scary guy, but he wasn’t _that_ scary. Something weird was going on. The others joined him on the dock and Owen picked up a pack that had been left on the dock.

“Dude!” he yelled, though Chef and Chris were long gone. “You forgot this!” As he spoke, a newspaper fell from the pack and onto the wooden dock. The others watched as Owen picked it up and read the page it had opened to.

“Escaped psycho killer on the loose,” he read. “Be on the lookout for a man wearing a hockey mask with a hooked hand and carrying a chainsaw!” Owen finished dramatically.

“Haha! He’s on the loose,” Izzy laughed.

“Oh, come on!” Heather rolled her eyes. “They don’t expect us to fall for this! Scary movie? Followed by hasty exit, followed by strategically placed prop?” she snorted disbelievingly.

“I don’t know, he looked pretty spooked!” DJ disagreed nervously.

“Puh-lease!” Heather scoffed. “It’s all part of their little stunt to freak us out!” Duncan didn’t really like it when Heather was right, but she was probably right this time. It was too convenient. It had to be a set up.

“If this was a stunt, would Chris leave behind his… hair gel?” Owen pointed out dramatically, pulling the hair gel from the pack. Everyone gasped in horror. Okay, maybe this was real.

“Whoa. This is for real,” Gwen said, a little worriedly. It was kinda cute how she was trying to hide her terror. 

“Let me get this straight. Chris left us for dead, and now we’re _alone_? While that escaped psycho killer with a chainsaw is on the loose?” DJ panicked. Duncan smirked at him.

“No,” he shook his head and grinned menacingly. “We’re alone while that escaped psycho killer with a chainsaw and HOOK is on the loose!” he cried gleefully while DJ screamed in terror and curled up in a ball on the ground. Duncan looked at him disappointedly. It really was just too easy to scare DJ.

-

Ten minutes later Gwen had gathered everyone by the campfire to talk strategy. Heather had already wandered off and Duncan couldn’t help but think it was for the best. Maybe the psycho killer would get her.

“Okay, rule number one,” Gwen said authoritatively, “do not go off on your own. Rule number two; if you do go off on your own, _never_ go in the woods! Rule number three; if you do go in the woods, never ever _ever_ make out in the woods! Or you will DIE in the woods!” Gwen continued. Duncan listened half-heartedly. He already knew all this crap.

“Where’s Izzy and Owen?” Gwen asked, finally noticing their absence, despite the fact that they’d disappeared before the group had even made it to the campfire.

“Breaking rules one through three,” Duncan grinned suggestively. He was glad Owen was finally getting some. Too bad it would be his last time. Gwen rolled her eyes at the news before running to the mess hall to grab some paper and a pencil. When she returned, Duncan watched her intently as she drew pictures of the remaining campers. She was actually a really good artist. Duncan was thinking about asking if he could keep the picture she drew of him, but he was stopped by the sound of DJ whispering his ear.

“Dude, I really have to pee,” DJ said through gritted teeth.

“So go,” Duncan said in annoyance.

“But, but… the psycho killer!” DJ stammered.

“Take Geoff,” Duncan said in exasperation. DJ’s wimpy attitude was really getting on his nerves. The two guys wandered off and Duncan went back to watching Gwen draw. She quickly finished the last person and propped the paper up on an easel.

“Okay, now that I’ve drawn a chart of all the players we can-,” she trailed off as she glanced at her audience, now only consisting of Duncan and Leshawna. “Where’s DJ and Geoff?” she asked.

“DJ had to take a leak so he took party boy with him,” Duncan told her. Good riddance too. The sooner he got rid of everyone else, the sooner he could be alone.

He was plotting how to get rid of loud mouth Leshawna when a scream came from the bathroom.

“It must be Heather!” Gwen said.

“Ha. That would be great!” Leshawna laughed. Duncan couldn’t help but agree.

“As much as I hate her, I’m going to go check on her,” Gwen sighed, leaving Duncan alone with Leshawna. He sighed in disappointment. He was only stuck with her for a minute though, before her stomach started to grumble audibly.

“I’m gonna go grab some snacks,” Leshawna told him. “Want anything?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Duncan replied and Leshawna wandered off. Finally, peace at last. That was until Gwen returned. Damn, he had enjoyed being alone. But at least it was Gwen and not DJ. Gwen angrily crossed off Leshawna’s picture when Duncan told her where Leshawna had gone.

She sat down on one of the stumps, looking somewhat defeated.

“This isn’t your fault, you know,” Duncan assured her.

“I know. If everyone had just _listened_ to me, we wouldn’t be in this mess!” she groaned, her words sounding like something Courtney might say.

“Who cares?” Duncan snorted, shaking his head to rid it of thoughts of Courtney. That was over now.

“Where’s Geoff?” Gwen asked. Duncan shrugged.

“Probably bit it with DJ,” he guessed.

“Well, it’s no surprise! Rule number eight; party guy is a prime target for psycho killers, right after the big loveable jock,” Gwen informed him knowingly. Duncan rolled his eyes. Did she have to keep going on about the rules? He _knew._ He’d probably seen more horror movies than she had. Gwen got up and crossed the two guys off her chart.

“You know what really ticks me off?” Gwen said angrily. _No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me,_ Duncan thought in annoyance.

“Live and learn, sweetheart,” he said, lighting up some sticks to keep himself entertained.

“You really are a pyro, aren’t you?” she said.

“So?” Duncan replied flatly. “I like burning stuff.”

“Is that what you went to juvie for?” Gwen asked, sitting down.

“Ha, like I’d tell you why I went to juvie,” Duncan scoffed. If she thought they were going to have a heart to heart right now, she had another think coming. This whole thing was becoming dull. He was sick of hanging out with Gwen, and he was sure by now that this was a challenge. A challenge he was going to win. He gave his arm a flick and Gwen’s dumb chart caught on fire. As Gwen ran off to get water Duncan smirked to himself.

“And then there was one,” he chuckled, still holding the burning sticks. His smiled dropped when he heard someone calling his name. Must be the psycho. Time to win this thing.

“You and me, psycho,” he grinned wickedly, throwing the burning sticks to the ground and following the sound of the killer’s voice.

The echoing voice led him down to the dock where he found the psycho killer waiting for him.

“This is gonna be fun!” he said to himself as he approached the killer. He picked up a chair and the killer turned towards him. Duncan threw the chair but the killer just sawed it in half and kept coming towards him. Duncan continued to throw whatever was in reach but the killer kept advancing on him. Somehow, Duncan managed to get his hands on the chainsaw and gain the upper hand. Chef removed his mask and Duncan declared himself the winner as Chef led him to a tent in the woods where Chris and the remaining campers were waiting.

“Hey,” Izzy pointed to the monitor, “coolio! Gwen’s taking on the psycho all by herself!” Everyone else glanced up to see Gwen standing face to face with the psycho killer. Only…

“Wait a second,” Duncan said, suddenly feeling worried, “if Chef’s in here… then who’s in the lodge with Gwen?” he panicked. Holy shit, Gwen was going to die and it was going to be his fault. He had to do something. He sprinted from then tent, with everyone else close at his heels. After running for what felt like an eternity (and him thinking Gwen was already dead the whole time), they burst into the dining hall, Duncan’s heart pounding from running but also from the adrenaline of trying to save someone.

“Gwen! He’s the real escaped psycho killer with a chainsaw and a hook,” everyone yelled in unison.

“What?” Gwen said in surprise, before screaming her lungs out. She then proceeded to kick the psycho killer in the face multiple times, causing him to walk out in outrage. Duncan was pretty sure he’d never been more impressed in his life. He played it cool though, and simply gave her a high five, his expression only showing a fraction of the awe he felt.

-

As Duncan cast his vote that night, he had to give up on the guys alliance. DJ was only bringing down the alliance anyway, he was a liability, and an extremely annoying one at that. Apparently everyone else felt the same as he was as he was booted at the campfire ceremony.

“You will be missed,” Chris told DJ, but Duncan doubted it.

“Group hug!” Owen declared and rushed towards DJ, throwing his arms around him. Duncan wasn’t going to join in but Gwen grabbed his arm and dragged him into the hug, and though he wasn’t really a hugger, he couldn’t deny he liked the way Gwen’s arms felt around him and the warmth of her body against his.

Abruptly, he remembered the black lines on his chest and he quickly pulled away. That was enough hugging. He didn’t even like Gwen. She was super annoying, and kind of a know it all.

“You okay?” Gwen asked him as they walked down to the dock to see off DJ.

“Yeah, fine. Just… jealous I didn’t get to fight the real psycho killer,” Duncan grinned.

“Ha! Maybe you’ll get your chance someday,” she winked.

“Maybe I will.”


	14. Can the Lonely Take the Place of You?

After the psycho killer challenge Gwen had been being extra nice to Duncan, and Duncan was not happy about it. Did she think they were friends now? Duncan didn’t have friends. Plus that weird moment with the hug freaked him out and he needed to keep her at arms length. This, paired with the fact that he probably needed an alliance to get further in the game, was his reasoning for approaching Heather. He didn’t want to help her. He still suspected her of getting Courtney eliminated, despite her protests. But he wanted to help himself, and Heather was his biggest competitor. Ergo, she was his best shot at a successful alliance. And if Gwen thought he was teamed up with Heather she would stay away for sure.

Not to mention, Heather was definitely the hottest chick left on the island and she may have been a total nightmare but he was willing to bet she was killer in the sack.

“You can borrow my chainsaw after I’m done,” Duncan offered as Heather rifled through a box, looking for something to help her catch a bear.

“Great!” Heather said sarcastically. “The bear can use it to skin me alive, after he’s finished mauling me! Thanks!” He should have known she would be less than enthusiastic.

“Well, I did pick something up that might help you,” Duncan said, pulling out a pair of antlers from the deer hunting challenge. He tried to squash the memories it brought back.

“Why would you want to help me?” Heather asked suspiciously.

“Because if you team up with me, I’ll take you to the final two,” Duncan informed her mockingly.

“Not interested,” Heather sniffed, stalking off with a huge fish hook in her hand.

“Suit yourself,” Duncan shrugged.

“I usually do!” she called back.

“She’ll be back,” Duncan said to himself knowingly. “Just wait.”

-

As it turned out, catching a raccoon was not as easy as one might think, and Duncan found himself running from them through the woods. After one attached itself to his head, he ran in the direction of camp and managed to throw the beast into the cage.

“Ha!” he barked gleefully, slamming the cage door shut. “What do you think of that?” he asked Heather, ignoring Gwen completely.

“Gwen won already,” Heather pointed out. Duncan finally turned his attention to Gwen who was laughing at her victory. Damn her. As Gwen sauntered off Chris’s voice blasted through the speakers, reminding them that whoever was last had to clean the communal washroom. Duncan turned back to Heather.

“Well, I’ve got nothing better to do. I could help you bag a bear… _deer,_ ” he grinned brandishing the antlers. Heather eyed him for a moment, sizing him up.

“You know what? Fine. Let’s form an alliance,” Heather agreed.

“I knew you’d come around,” Duncan smirked. “And how about after we get the bear we sneak into the woods for a little make out sesh?”

“Ew! Dream on,” Heather snorted. Well, it was worth a shot.

The two of them wandered into the woods before Duncan handed her the antlers complete with the little fluffy white tail. Courtney had looked so cute in the ensemble.

“No, no! See, the thing that’s supposed to happen is I agree to be in an alliance with you, and you help me catch the bear! What doesn’t happen is I wear a reindeer costume,” Heather declared.

“How fast can you run?” Duncan asked her.

“Also, you don’t ask me a bazillion stupid questions,” Heather said acidly.

“You put these on, the bear thinks you’re a deer! You run away and lead him toward the camp ground,” Duncan explained. He had this whole plan worked out.

“How fast can _you_ run?” Heather asked.

“I bet you’re faster,” Duncan said. He was only complimenting her so he didn’t have to wear the dumb costume again. It was bad enough the first time… though the consequences hadn’t been so bad in the end. He smiled at the memory. “But what I will do is follow. To guide the bear into the cage! I bet most of the other morons have already got their animals back at camp. We don’t have a lot of time,” Duncan urged. Heather hesitated but he knew he’d convinced her.

“Fine!” she snatched the antlers from him and rammed them onto her head.

“Let’s go poke a sleeping bear!” Duncan chortled.

-

The plan was working, the bear was chasing Heather and Duncan was racing along behind. He lost sight of her for a moment and then Izzy was standing in front of him.

“Have you seen Heather?” he asked.

“Who?” Izzy asked.

“About yea tall, long dark hair, hot… wearing deer antlers,” Duncan described. Didn’t Izzy know who Heather was? At that moment Heather emerged from the bushes with a tranquilizer dart stuck in her butt cheek. Duncan grinned maliciously. He could not be unhappy about it.

“Whoops,” Izzy stated. The two of them grabbed Heather and dragged her back to camp, Duncan laughing the whole time.

-

As much as Duncan had found Heather’s predicament hilarious, he was still in an alliance with her, and they agreed to vote for Izzy. That girl was crazy anyway. However, being in an alliance with Heather meant he now apparently had to do her dirty work, and her dirty work was cleaning the communal washroom after losing the challenge. He looked forward to the day when he could be rid of Heather and this game and be surrounded by enormous piles of money.

He quickly grabbed Gwen’s toothbrush to scrub the grout as Heather instructed, before thinking better of it and using Heather’s toothbrush instead. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it his way. Heather never needed to know.

-

He was exhausted when he got back to his bunk that night, but for some reason, sleep still wouldn’t come to him. He kept tracing over the lines on his chest and thinking about how they should be coloured by now. He scolded himself for trying to hook up with Heather. Yeah, she was hot, but she was a monster. And the hug thing with Gwen? Gwen, also kinda hot, although not on the same level as Heather or Courtney, was so annoying. Duncan realised something then. He knew he didn’t really like either of the girls, though he could admit he was a little attracted to both of them. But the real reason he was even entertaining thoughts of a hook up with either of them was just because, well, he was lonely. And he didn’t think he’d ever be lonely. He had always been a loner anyway. He didn’t have any close friends and he didn’t really get close to any girl he slept with. And yet there he was, lying on his bunk feeling horribly and maybe irrevocably lonely.

_If only Courtney were here,_ he thought, then cursed himself for thinking about her at all.

**-**

As Lindsay, DJ and Izzy joined the rest of the eliminated contestants on Playa des Losers, Courtney still had no luck with either contacting her lawyers or locating Harold. She refused to listen to any of the stories of the newcomers and generally spent her time snapping at people.

When Lindsay asked who Tyler was for about the fiftieth time (whilst sitting in his lap) Courtney called her the dumbest slut to have ever walked the earth. He was her _soulmate_ for crying out loud, and she couldn’t even be bothered to remember his name? She deserved what Courtney called her and worse.

When DJ screamed for two minutes because he thought he saw a snake in the pool, Courtney pushed him in and held him under for thirty seconds, and when she finally pulled him up she slapped him and told him to stop being such a fucking baby because otherwise he’d never find anyone to love him.

When Courtney heard Trent and Cody arguing over which one of them was Gwen’s soulmate she knocked their heads together and told them Gwen was ugly as hell and why did they even want her anyway?

She tried to make a snide comment to Bridgette when Katie and Sadie accidentally put on each others tops and didn’t notice for the whole day, but Bridgette just gave her a disapproving look and went to sit near someone else. It seemed people had been doing that a lot lately, and Courtney couldn’t really figure out _why_ no one ever seemed to find her jokes funny, or why when she asked if anyone wanted to play tennis or volleyball with her everyone kind of just disappeared.

It’s not like they didn’t _like_ her, surely. She was a nice person. A former CIT. It was impossible not to like her. Maybe they were just avoiding her because they felt bad for her because of the whole Duncan thing. Well, despite what everyone thought, she did NOT care about Duncan. At least, that’s what she was trying her hardest to convince everyone. She didn’t feel sad about it, although she did wonder why he didn’t just _tell_ her she wasn’t his soulmate. She just felt angry all the time. So furious at everything that she felt she might explode. She went to the gym sometimes because she just had to _fight_ something and she still couldn’t find Harold. And even after an intense session with the punching bag, she still felt incredibly frustrated, only now she was also exhausted.

After Izzy, Geoff was the next camper to arrive at Playa des Losers. Bridgette ran to him and immediately their lips were glued together, much like Lindsay and Tyler the moment Lindsay had arrived.

_Great,_ Courtney thought, _now there are two couples on this island._ That was her first thought. Her second thought was; _why didn’t Bridgette tell me?_ The surfer girl had had plenty of time to tell Courtney that Geoff was her soulmate (which was evident now with the making out and the bright blue waves visible on Geoff’s chest), and yet she hadn’t bothered.

Courtney felt a lump rise in her throat and she silently slipped away from the dock and back to her room. She could feel something, some emotion other than anger, threatening to take over, and she didn’t want to face it. She bit back the tears as she closed her bedroom door behind her. She couldn’t cry. She didn’t even know _why_ she would be crying. So what if Geoff and Bridgette were soulmates? She should be happy for them. But instead she felt what? Sadness? Depression? Desperation? Emptiness?

As she pressed her face into her pillow, pretending there weren’t tears pricking the corner of her eyes, she realised with total certainty that what she felt was hopelessness. Complete and utter hopelessness.

-

When she woke up the next morning, Courtney scrubbed her face clean of any residual tear marks and put on her face – the one that said “I murder kittens for fun”. She then put on her bathing suit and headed out to the pool area to start her daily manhunt for Harold, only to find a film crew setting up.

“What’s going on?” she said to no one in particular.

“Apparently they’re filming a special ‘after the dock of shame’ episode,” Noah informed her from the lounger where he was sitting, reading a book. “They’re going to ask us a load of dumb questions about how it feels to not win. Gee, I wonder,” he rolled his eyes before putting his book down. “I need a drink,” he said and headed to the pool bar, never mind they didn’t actually serve alcohol there seeing everyone at Playa des Losers were under eighteen.

Courtney turned her attention back to the film crew. She panicked for a moment, wondering what they were going to ask her. She needed time to prepare, damn it! What if they asked her about Duncan? About her elimination? How was she going to play it?

After some deliberation she decided she was going to have to act _not_ bitter and angry. Except maybe about the Harold thing. She still wanted to kill him and maybe the audience would sympathise with her, since she had been kicked off unfairly. She would simply say that she’d been eliminated unfairly and she was mad at Harold, but that she respected the remaining competitors, despite the fact that she should be in the final five.

As for Duncan… she couldn’t pretend like he wasn’t her soulmate. Would it make her seem heartless if she said she didn’t care about him? Probably. So she’d have to say she liked him, even if it killed her to say she still cared. (Why was the truth so hard to admit?). Out of all the remaining competitors, he was the only one she would want to win anyway. She wasn’t about to say she wanted _Heather_ to win.

And if Chris happened to show up she was going to make sure to give him a piece of her mind. After the cameras were turned off, obviously.

-

Courtney groaned as she collapsed onto her bed that night, still dripping wet from falling in the pool. Things hadn’t exactly gone to plan. She didn’t think she’d come off as nice as she had planned to be, but it wasn’t her fault everyone else around her were total imbeciles. It was very hard to keep her mouth shut. Then, they’d accidentally eliminated Leshawna, although truth be told that didn’t bother her that much. She’d never even really spoken to Leshawna. And to top it off, Chris had disappeared before she got a chance to yell at him. On the bright side, she’d managed to wrap a lamp post around Harold. But now that she’d had her revenge she still didn’t feel satisfied, and she wondered if maybe it wasn’t Harold she was mad at at all. Maybe she was mad at herself for taking her eyes off the prize. For letting this dumb soulmate thing cloud her vision and make her lose sight of why she was there, and ultimately it cost her not only the game, but her dignity and her sanity as well.

Deep down she knew she could have won Chef’s challenge, if she’d been focused. And if they’d won the challenge she wouldn’t have been voted off. Imagine being so stupid as to think a soulmate was more important than fortune, only to find out soulmates weren’t really worth anything in the end. At least, not enough to save her from her own hellish nightmare that she was living. She was sure it couldn’t get any worse. But at least, she hadn’t gone and fallen in love with him or anything.

She got up and stripped off her bathing suit, changing into her pyjamas, before turning out the lights and getting back into bed. Maybe she’d wake up in the morning and find that none of this had happened.


	15. I Won't Let You Close Enough to Hurt Me

 Duncan didn’t have time to wonder where the boat of losers was taking him. He was too busy freaking out about the possible sasquatchanakwa driving the boat. He was relieved when it did actually turn out to be just Chef. He put his terror down to being over tired, despite the fact that he’d slept pretty well the previous night, with Heather curled up next to him. He was over the fact that the girls had tricked him. It was a game after all and he would have done the same thing if he had thought it would’ve worked on them. But somehow Heather was immune to his charms, and Gwen already had Trent.

He _was_ however, still mad at Owen for pretty much losing the challenge for them. And now Duncan was paying the price. He looked up when he saw lights in the distance. He could make out the shape of some kind of building on the shoreline and from what he could see it looked pretty fancy. Chef steered the boat towards land and Duncan’s stomach dropped as he realised he would probably be seeing the other eliminated contestants very shortly. Somehow the thought terrified him more than the sasquatchanakwa.

As the boat drew closer to the dimly lit dock, Duncan began to hear the voices of the past contestants shouting, though he couldn’t make out what they were saying. They sounded like excited shouts though, not angry, so he figured they were letting each other know he was coming. Except, they didn’t know it was him yet.

He wondered how they’d feel about him now. Was he heading to welcoming arms or an angry mob? He realised he didn’t care that much. Though he was curious to see the reaction of his past team members, he really only cared about one person’s opinion of him, and his heart swelled at the thought of getting to see her again. Things had ended well, right? He realised now he’d been stupid to think he’d never see her again. Of _course_ the show would keep them together after they’d been eliminated.

So, maybe, he hoped, they could pick up where they left off. She hadn’t cared about who her real soulmate was while they were on the island, so he didn’t see why she would now. Unless she’d figured it out after she was eliminated. Still, he dared to hope. He wondered if she kept the gift he gave her.

Finally Chef pulled the boat up to the dock and Duncan could make out the silhouettes of a group of people gathered on the dock.

“Who is it?” someone yelled, though it didn’t seem like the question was directed at him.

“Shut up, I can’t see,” someone else said in annoyance.

“Is it Heather?”

“It’s Chef!”

“Don’t be so stupid!”

Duncan stepped off the boat and onto the dock.

“It’s… Duncan,” Trent said stepping forward.

“Hey,” Duncan nodded. He wasn’t really looking at Trent, instead his eyes immediately sought out Courtney. She had her arms folded and her face was expressionless, but she didn’t exactly look happy to see him. Duncan tried to smile at her but she immediately averted her eyes.

“Alright, you know the rules!” Eva shouted, and the group began to disband, heading back up to the massive mansion looming above them.

“The rules?” Duncan asked no one in particular.

“No questions until tomorrow,” Leshawna informed him. Duncan nodded and turned his attention back to where Courtney had been standing, but she was gone. Leshawna noticed the direction of his gaze.

“Best leave that till tomorrow too,” she advised. Duncan looked at her quizzically but she just shrugged and began to follow the others back up to the mansion. Duncan sighed and followed her lead.

-

Duncan didn’t feel much like sleeping, it was still fairly early really, so he took the opportunity to explore his new surroundings. Playa des Losers was impressive to say the least and being eliminated suddenly didn’t seem like such a bad thing after all.

After seeing everything there was to see he walked along the hall back to his room. He could hear giggling around the corner, coming towards him and he instinctively looked for somewhere to hide. The hallway was empty though and soon he was confronted by Geoff and Bridgette kissing and laughing, so wrapped up in each other that they hadn’t noticed him standing there, until they almost walked into him.

“Duncan,” Geoff said dumbly.

“Geoff,” Duncan nodded awkwardly. He couldn’t say he regretted voting Geoff or Bridgette off, but he thought they might hold some animosity for him. Bridgette seemed to read his mind.

“No hard feelings,” she smiled. Duncan nodded and the three of them went to head their separate ways.

“Hey,” Duncan turned, calling after them.

“Yeah?” Geoff replied, turning back to face Duncan.

“Do you guys know which room is Courtney’s?” he asked. Screw Leshawna’s advice. Geoff and Bridgette shared a look before Bridgette opened her mouth hesitantly.

“Room 208. Second floor,” she said.

“Thanks,” Duncan grinned and headed off in the direction of Courtney’s room.

He took a deep breath before knocking. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he thought he’d figure it out when he saw her.

“Who is it?” she called after a beat. His stomach flipped at the sound of her voice. It had been way too long.

“It’s Duncan,” he called back. Silence. Some scuffling sounds, then Courtney’s footsteps as she walked towards the door. She was wearing her pyjamas with a sweater thrown over them, her hair slightly messed up.

“Hey princess,” he grinned. “Did I wake you?” he asked.

“No. What do you want?” Courtney said shortly. Duncan was a little taken aback, but he tried to hide his surprise.

“I thought we could… catch up,” he said lamely. Courtney raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m not going to have sex with you,” she said flatly.

“That’s not what I meant,” Duncan huffed. “I actually meant talk.” _And maybe have sex later._

“No thanks. Bye,” Courtney went to close the door.

“What’s your problem?” Duncan snapped.

“My problem?” Courtney retorted.

“Yeah. We were getting along great on the island. What happened?”

“What happened was I realised I can do better than you,” Courtney snorted. “Did you really think I was sitting around waiting for you so we could pick up where we left off?”

“No,” he said, even though he kind of had thought that. “Did you hook up with someone else then?” he questioned, annoyed at himself for caring. Jealous, even though she hadn’t answered the question yet.

“None of your business. What’s it to you anyway? Like you didn’t hook up with other girls while I was gone,” Courtney scoffed. Duncan was about to deny it. Maybe she was just waiting for him to assure her he only ever thought about her. But he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. If she didn’t care, then neither did he.

“Whatever, Courtney,” he snorted. “I didn’t ever really like you anyway.”

“The feeling is mutual,” she spat.

“I guess it’s lucky we weren’t soulmates after all,” Duncan scowled.

“Lucky,” Courtney agreed angrily, and Duncan couldn’t help himself, he lunged forward, grabbing her and pulling her mouth to his. She was compliant at first, kissing him back with an intensity he matched easily. But all too soon she was pushing him away, delivering a sharp slap across his face.

“Leave me alone,” she hissed acidly before slamming the door in his face.

He knew he was out of line. He’d probably made it much worse. He should have left before he’d done something so stupid, or better yet, taken Leshawna’s advice and not come at all.

But then, at least now he knew where he stood. Things were over between them, her words and slap to the face made that clear, and he was pretty sure it didn’t get more over than that. And he was sorry. He was incredibly regretful that things hadn’t worked out between them, though he should have known they never would. But he’d be okay. There’d be other girls who really wanted him. Maybe even a soulmate.

He tried to console himself with these thoughts as he made his way back to his own room and went to bed. And he knew it was true, and yet it didn’t stop it hurting right now, and he fell asleep with his cheek and heart still stinging.

-

It was easy for Courtney be angry at Duncan. Anger was her go-to emotion when she didn’t know what else to feel. And when she saw him get off that boat she was so overwhelmed with a flurry of emotions, anger was the only one she could latch onto.

It was better that way. It was better if he never knew he was her soulmate. If he knew… well she wasn’t quite sure what would happen, but she was pretty sure it would eventually destroy her. Which was why when she’d realised he could be joining them at Playa des Losers any day now she’d managed to convince everyone not to tell him. Although, convince is a tame word for the way she threatened them mercilessly to keep her secret. If one of those blabber mouths told, she would have their head on a platter.

She hadn’t expected him to kiss her. She wasn’t ready for it, and she hadn’t realised how much she ached for it until it was already happening and she was responding before she could remember how much she hated him. It wasn’t his fault, she knew that. He couldn’t help that his lines were black, any more than she could help that hers were green. But it surprised her that he still seemed to want her, when his soulmate was somewhere on this island. And she was mad that he had the nerve to pretend like he hadn’t considered hooking up with one of the other girls. He must have considered it, after all. He hadn’t known she was sitting there, just on the other side of the island, pathetically waiting for the day he’d announce his presence at Playa des Losers.

She didn’t cry this time, after she’d slammed the door in his face. She just angrily threw her sweater to the floor, the one she’d thrown on to hide her marks. He could never see them. She would never let him close enough to see them again. It was for the best, for both of them, if she ever wanted to move on.


	16. I Take One Look at You and I Grow Cold

Duncan tried to ignore Courtney, he really did. He only had to do it for another week and then he could be well shot of her. But something about her drew him in, which annoyed him to no end. Especially since she was doing an excellent job of ignoring him, which meant she probably hadn’t even noticed he was ignoring her.

“She still likes you,” Cody told him one day when he caught Duncan staring at Courtney (again) from across the pool. She was lying on a lounger, weirdly fully clothed, her eyes shut.

“No one asked you, dweeb,” Duncan snorted, not taking his eyes off Courtney.

“Well, I’m just _saying_ -,” Cody tried again.

“Why are you still talking to me?” Duncan growled, turning to Cody to glare at him menacingly.

“Sorry, it’s just, I need to ask you a question,” Cody stammered, stepping back slightly.

“What?” Duncan snapped.

“It’s about Gwen,” Cody gulped. “Do you know who her soulmate is?”

“Trent, I assume,” Duncan rolled his eyes. Clearly the little nerd had a bit of a crush.

“But you don’t _know_?” Cody clarified.

“Trent’s lines are midnight blue. That’s Gwen’s favourite colour. I can put two and two together,” Duncan said, wondering why he was still even talking to Cody. He didn’t need to have this conversation.

“But you haven’t seen Gwen’s chest?” Cody continued. Duncan glared at him.

“None of your business,” Duncan said harshly. Cody, instead of backing off, just laughed.

“Oh, I’m not asking if you had sex with her. But just because Gwen is Trent’s soulmate doesn’t mean he is hers,” Cody informed him. “I thought you might know, give me reason to hope.”

“How do you know that?” Duncan asked.

“Just look at Harold and Leshawna,” Cody pointed at Harold who was mooning over Leshawna in the hot tub while Bridgette and Geoff made out next to them. Duncan glanced over at the pair and saw Harold’s jagged orange lines and it dawned on him what Cody was trying to say.

“You mean, soulmates don’t always match up?” he asked incredulously. Cody nodded. “Well I’ll be damned. Sucks to be Harold,” Duncan laughed.

“Haha, yeah,” Cody grinned. “Listen, about Courtney-,” Cody started.

“This conversation is over now,” Duncan told him.

“Right, yeah, of course,” Cody giggled nervously as he backed away. Duncan turned back to look at Courtney only to find she was no longer there.

-

Courtney slipped away to the gym where Eva was working out while Duncan was distracted by Cody. It wasn’t like she hadn’t noticed his constant staring, he was hardly being subtle. It was a little unnerving. He obviously still wanted her, even after their fight two nights ago. And yes, she still wanted him. But it was more complicated than that, wasn’t it?

It wasn’t like the two of them could just be in a happy relationship forever, because she’d always know that she was just a little bit more invested than he was. And somewhere along the line, he’d find out who his real soulmate was, and what then? Would he pretend he didn’t care? And even if he _didn’t_ really care, Courtney would always worry that he did. Or he would leave her. And Courtney didn’t want to put herself through that.

It would be much easier, though, if she didn’t keep thinking about how he kissed her the other night. And how she burned for his touch whenever she felt his eyes on her. And how she dreamt about him the last two nights. The problem wasn’t that he was in her heart. She could ignore her heart, she was good at it. The problem was that he was in her head, and that was an entirely different matter.

 

On the plus side, her lawyers had finally gotten back to her. They sent a letter weeks ago and she’d only just received it, thanks to being stranded on this goddamn island in the middle of nowhere, but they stated they were working on her case and they would try and get her some compensation for being unfairly eliminated. In the mean time, she only had ignore Duncan for another week and then she’d be free of him and this stupid competition.

-

It was around lunchtime when Chris showed up, looking particularly pleased with himself. Courtney was on him like a rocket.

“Why are you here? Is someone else going back into the game? Is it me?” she blurted.

“No,” Chris chuckled. “But we do need your help for our penultimate challenge.” Courtney frowned in disappointment as Chris pulled out a megaphone. “Hey, losers, listen up!” he called. “Meet me in the dining room in five minutes!”

Five minutes later everyone was gathered in the dining room, sitting at the tables, each with a piece of paper and pen in front of them.

“What’s going on, eh?” Ezekiel asked.

“Do we get to draw pictures?” asked Lindsay.

“No!” Chris replied. “I need you all to think of the most disgusting and horrible dares possible and write them down. Our challenge for the final three is a dare contest! To remind you, the final three are Owen, Heather and Gwen. Keep that in mind when coming up with the dares,” Chris grinned. “I’ll be back in half an hour to collect your suggestions.”

Courtney looked around as everyone began scribbling down their ideas, most people snickering to themselves as they likely envisioned Heather carrying out the dare.

“Hey, Harold,” Beth called across the room. “Would you be willing to donate your wad of chewed gum to the cause?”

“Sure, I guess,” Harold shrugged. Lindsay started cackling to herself so Courtney could only assume she’d thought of some ridiculously evil dare. She glanced over at Duncan who was smirking to himself and scribbling furiously. Courtney sighed and scribbled down a few ideas of her own. She honestly couldn’t care less who won the money now. She didn’t like any of the final three and honestly none of them deserved it as much as she did.

-

Duncan made his way down to the dock after Izzy had yelled out that the boat of losers was approaching, though it was only mid afternoon. Obviously there had been no campfire ceremony. It was the first time he’d been able to experience this, and it was the only time he’d get the chance, so he figured he’d make the most of it.

The person who stepped off the boat was barely recognisable, apart from the sour expression on her face.

“Heather!?” Lindsay shrieked in delight at Heather’s badly shaven head. Duncan glanced at the person next to him to make a snide comment about Heather’s new hairstyle, only to find it was Courtney. He closed his mouth quickly but Courtney gave a snort of laughter and Duncan smirked back at her. It seemed everyone could get some enjoyment out of Heather’s pain.

“What happened to you?” Sadie asked, seemingly horrified. Not because she was worried about what had happened to Heather, but because the hairstyle was downright scary.

“Lindsay,” Heather seethed. Lindsay just laughed harder.

“What did I say about questions?!” Eva growled.

“Yeah, yeah,” Trent rolled his eyes.

“I’m going to murder all of you,” Heather screeched as everyone continued to laugh at her misfortune. “Right after I call my lawyer and sue the ass off Chris!”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Courtney rolled her eyes. “I’ve already tried. A lot.” Heather screamed in frustration before pushing through the group of people and marching up to the resort. The others made to follow her, most of them still chortling.

“Courtney,” Duncan said, before she could leave. “Can I talk to you?” Courtney hesitated but decided to stay and hear him out.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Look, I don’t expect us to get back together or whatever, I guess you want to find your real soulmate. But it’s driving me crazy not talking to you. Can’t we at least be friends?” he asked.

“I really don’t think I can be your friend, Duncan,” Courtney said flatly. “We have literally nothing in common. What would we even talk about?”

“I don’t know…” Duncan sighed.

“See?” she shook her head. “Let’s just move on, okay? We can just be… civil.” Duncan sighed and gave a short nod of his head. Courtney nodded in return and began the walk back to the resort.

-

On the day of the finale, Courtney and the rest of the eliminated contestants were ushered down to the dock and onto a ferry by Chef Hatchet. Once at the island, Chris asked them to take a seat on the side of the person they wanted to win. Of course, Courtney didn’t want either of them to win, but she decided to go with Owen. He was gross and annoying, but he tried to be friendly at least, and she remembered how he’s dominated at the dodgeball challenge (even if her team had thrashed his in the end). She was happy to note that Duncan had also chosen Owen’s side as she slid onto the seat in the stand next to him and he nodded at her politely.

Heather appeared from nowhere and joined them on Owen’s side. Courtney shook her head in pity at the horrible wig Heather had managed to find in an abandoned props room at the resort.

Courtney tuned out as Gwen went on some spiel about what she’d do with the money. Gwen honestly had the most boring and annoying voice. Then Owen announced his party and she knew she’d chosen the right side.

Chris announced the start of the challenge and Geoff, Izzy and Heather immediately took off after Owen to show their support, while everyone else trailed along behind. Everyone except Trent that is, who was running beside Gwen pathetically trying to win her back.

“What a loser,” Courtney scoffed, mostly to herself.

“Totally,” Duncan agreed beside her. She turned to him in surprise as she hadn’t realised he was standing there. He gave her a smirk as he raised one eyebrow and she felt her pulse quicken. She hurriedly turned her attention back to the action, where Gwen was struggling to climb her pole. Trent whipped off his shirt, revealing his midnight blue swirls and Gwen’s eyes went as big as saucers.

“Why is her face like that? He’s not even hot,” Courtney snorted.

“You know it be funny if his soulmate was actually Heather and not Gwen,” Duncan laughed.

“I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even Trent,” Courtney grimaced.

The two competitors raced off with their flags towards the next part of the challenge, and everybody followed, eager to see the carnage about to unfold. Gwen and Owen grabbed their eggs and stepped out onto the flimsy boards that crossed the gorge. Courtney watched in horror as Gwen almost lost her balance. Okay, she didn’t like the girl, but she didn’t want her to _die._ A resounding screech filled the air and they all looked up to see massive eagles racing towards Gwen and Owen.

“Angry eagle parents?” Chris said somewhat proudly. So that’s what the eggs were about.

“Oh snap!” Duncan approved, giving Chris a high five. “That is messed up!”

“What? You mean you _like_ watching this?” Courtney huffed in annoyance. Seriously, Duncan was so immature. And this was why they could never be together. “They could die!”

“Aw, mellow your yellow, babe, this is awesome TV!” Duncan explained. Courtney ignored they way her heart started pounding when he called her babe.

“Why would I want to watch Gwen and Owen risk their lives?” she asked haughtily, but even as she was saying it, she kind of knew he was right. It was more than a little exciting. Chris rolled his eyes at the two of them before walking away, getting closer to the action.

“This is life at its most raw. Check out Elvis here with his guitar,” Duncan gestured to a petrified Trent. “One misstep and his girlfriend is shark bait! Now that would make for an interesting song!”

God that smug look on his face was infuriating. _Oh, what the heck_ , she thought, grabbing the front of his shirt and hauling him towards her, opening her mouth as she kissed him. Duncan was taken by surprise, but after a second he was an all too willing participant in the impromptu make out session. Courtney pulled away abruptly, annoyed at herself, not wanting him to think this changed anything, but still wanting to kiss him some more.

“You’re still not my type,” she warned.

“You make me sick,” he spat in return, but as she pulled his lips back against hers she could feel him smiling and it was all she could do not to smile back. He pulled her tightly against him while his hands roamed underneath her shirt and she gave a small moan of appreciation.

“Should we take this into one of the cabins?” Duncan breathed into her ear. Courtney’s eyes snapped open as she came to her senses.

“No!” she cried pushing him away. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to take things further with him, on the contrary, she wanted it a lot. But he’d want to take her top off, and then he’d see her terrible secret.

“Okay, I’m sorry, I thought…” Duncan started, looking confused.

“No, I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have kissed you,” she straightened her clothes and hair and glanced around, noticing everyone else had gone. “We should head back to the finish line. This never happened, okay?” she stressed and Duncan nodded but he didn’t look happy about it. Courtney held her head high as she marched back to the finish line. She couldn’t believe how close she’d come to letting him see the lines on her chest. She hoped no one had seen their indiscretion.

No one looked up or seemed to notice her or Duncan as they joined the rest of the group on the stands, everyone on edge, watching to see if Gwen or Owen would cross the finish line first.

Gwen was speeding ahead while Owen crawled along behind, and for some reason, Trent was carrying a massive boulder. Just when it looked like Gwen had it in the bag, Izzy and Lindsay pulled out some freshly baked brownies and a fan and Owen came barging towards them, knocking down Gwen and Izzy in his haste to get the brownies, and consequently winning the competition.

-

The flames flickered brightly as the campers all gathered around for their final campfire ceremony. Courtney found a seat to sit on and Duncan grabbed the one next to her, much to her chagrin. Chris announced Owen as the winner and handed him a huge cheque. He was then thrown into the lake by Duncan, Geoff and Owen, kicking and screaming. 

Courtney didn’t bother to go down to the dock to watch, instead walking over to her old cabin brushing her hand along the railing as she walked up the stairs, feeling strangely nostalgic over this grotty old thing. She stood in the porch light, watching with a small smile as the guys chased Chef around, trying to grab him to throw him into the water as well. This was probably going to be the last time she’d see any of them and it was a little bittersweet.

Duncan looked up and spotted her and grinned. She stiffened as he abandoned his chase and sauntered towards her. Courtney glanced around for an escape route before resigning herself to her fate. She honestly didn’t trust herself around him.

“It’s weird, huh?” Duncan said as he walked up the steps of the cabin to join her.

“What is?” she asked, not looking at him.

“That this is our last night,” Duncan mused, voicing Courtney’s own thoughts. “Feels like I’ve been here forever.”

“Yeah,” Courtney nodded. She heard giggling coming from somewhere close by and she looked over to the next cabin to see Lindsay dragging Tyler from the cabin. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what they’d been doing.

“Oh, heyyyy, Duncan, Courtney,” Lindsay giggled, walking over to them. “We were just… oh you know,” she winked. Courtney raised her eyebrows at the blonde. “I saw you guys kissing earlier,” Lindsay continued suggestively, and Courtney felt a blush rise in her cheeks. “I guess you decided to tell him then. That is so great! I’m so glad you guys could work things out! Everyone deserves to be happy, even people as mean as you two.” Lindsay grinned and skipped off, dragging Tyler with her. She had no idea what she’d just said, but Duncan hadn’t missed it.

“Tell me what?” he asked in confusion.

“Nothing,” Courtney said quickly, but she wasn’t convincing enough.

“Seriously Courtney, what did she think you told me?” Duncan demanded.

“Nothing, okay? Will you just drop it?” Courtney snapped, still refusing to look at Duncan. Duncan grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him.

“What is it?” he asked desperately. “For god’s sake, tell me if it could help us be together!” Courtney’s heart lurched at the words, and she found herself angry again, because he didn’t understand how it would change _everything._

“You think you want to know, but you _don’t,_ okay? Trust me,” she urged.

“How can I trust you when you’ve obviously been lying to me about something?” Duncan groaned angrily.

“Fine. You want to know? Fine,” she spat, pulling her grey sweater over her head and throwing it to the ground, before tugging the collar of her shirt open and revealing the bright green lines glowing on her chest. She stared at him, her heart pounding out of her chest as his eyes widened and he took a step back.

“Wait, what?” he stammered. Courtney didn’t think she’d ever seen him so lost for words.

“ _You_ did this to me,” she accused, her voice shaking.

“Courtney…” Duncan said softly. Courtney ignored him, picking up her sweater and pushing past him. “Courtney, wait!” he called.

“Fuck off, Duncan!” Courtney yelled back as she marched down to the dock where the ferry was waiting to take them all back to Playa des Losers for one last night.


	17. Take You For All That You've Got

Gwen liked Trent, she really did. She’d been cut when he kissed Heather, and she’d missed him a lot when he was gone. It was so sweet of him to help her during the last challenge, even if she hadn’t won in the end. But he wasn’t her soulmate. And she’d been disappointed, but that was life. But she hadn’t realised that _she_ was _his._ And he was saying that he loved her, and planning what they would do when they left the island. And she hadn’t found a way to tell him yet.

The boat ride back to Playa des Losers was excruciating. She was smiling and laughing but inside her stomach was churning as she tried to figure out when the right time to tell him was, and what exactly she should say.

Trent grabbed her hand as they got off the ferry and walked up to the resort. The air was buzzing with excitement as the group of teenagers laughed and ran around, the full moon high in the sky, no rules, no competition to worry about and a whole resort at their disposal. Gwen wished she could feel the same. Instead, she had this heavy weight on her shoulders and she knew she wouldn’t be able to relax until she told Trent the truth.

“Is there somewhere we can talk in private?” she asked, glancing at Trent a little nervously.

“Sure, we can go to my room,” Trent nodded, leading her there. “So what’s up?” Trent asked after they were safely shut in his room.

“Trent…” Gwen started hesitantly. “I don’t really know how to tell you this so I guess I’ll just show you,” she sighed. Trent looked at her quizzically as she pulled down the sleeve of her top to reveal her shoulder and the top of her breast.

“They’re… they’re black,” Trent said dumbly. “But… we’re soulmates,” he gulped.

“I’m so sorry, Trent! I wish you were my soulmate too! I really like you and I don’t even know who else it could be! I’d rather be with you,” Gwen rambled.

“Gwen,” Trent said softly. “Gwen.” She stopped talking. “It’s okay,” he said soothingly, taking a step towards her and rubbing her shoulders. He really was incredible. She’d just dropped a huge bombshell on him and _he_ was comforting _her._

“I don’t want to force you into anything, but I’m in love with you,” Trent said. “If you want to try and be together anyway, I can learn to live with not being your soulmate.”

“Really?” Gwen smiled. Trent nodded. “Okay,” Gwen threw her arms around him and kissed him. Properly this time, not like the first time, and even though he wasn’t her soulmate, it still felt _right._

-

Courtney could have screamed when she found out they had to stay on Playa des Losers for another week. Chris said he had a “special surprise” planned for them all, and if history was anything to go by, this did not bode well for any of them.

She’d been avoiding Duncan at every turn, and he kept seeking her out. He even had DJ slip her a note but she refused to read it. What could he possibly have to say to her?

She was heading into the elevator one day, three days after the final challenge, and she noticed at the last second that Duncan was already in there. She turned to run away, but Duncan grabbed her and dragged her in. As soon as the doors were shut he pressed the emergency stop button.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Courtney scowled.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Duncan observed.

“Well done, Captain Obvious. I believe I told you to fuck off?” she hissed, hitting the stop button again to get the elevator moving again. Duncan immediately stopped it again.

“Yeah, I remember. But you never gave me a chance to say anything,” Duncan rolled his eyes.

“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say,” Courtney snorted.

“Look, Courtney, I’m sorry you’re not my soulmate. Believe me, before we kissed I was sure you were. But that doesn’t mean we can’t… you know,” he trailed off.

“Hook up?” Courtney finished acidly. “No thanks.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Duncan huffed. “Why are you always putting words into my mouth.”

“Well if you’d just say what you _mean_ instead of being such a butthead about it!” Courtney grumbled.

“Did you just call me a butthead?” Duncan smirked.

“Will you just say what you need to so we can get out of this elevator and I don’t have to look at you anymore?” Courtney snapped.

“I don’t give a fuck about soulmates. I never have. The point is, I want _you,_ soulmates be damned,” Duncan told her.

“You want me?” Courtney squeaked. “Like… to be your girlfriend?” Duncan nodded. This so wasn’t what she was expecting.

“What do you say?” Duncan asked. He kind of looked nervous which was a little endearing. But still, there were _reasons_ they couldn’t be together.

“Duncan, what makes you think we would make a remotely good couple? We have _nothing_ in common. You like punk and dirt and gore, and I like order and cleanliness and getting things right. We’re totally incompatible!” Courtney ranted.

“Maybe they’re the things that make us perfect together,” Duncan shrugged.

“Also you have terrible hair,” Courtney said grimly.

“Hey, that’s a low blow,” Duncan frowned.

“It’s not my fault you have absolutely no sense of style,” Courtney snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Well, you’re not that crash hot yourself. What’s up with this dumb sweater?” Duncan said, grabbing her sleeve.

“See, look, we’re fighting already,” Courtney pointed out, her point proven.

“Come on. You can’t deny we have chemistry,” Duncan convinced. She certainly couldn’t deny that. “What if we just… see what happens?” Duncan suggested with a shrug. Courtney chewed her lip, thinking it over.

“Just… let me think about it, okay?” she finally said.

“Okay,” Duncan agreed, starting the elevator again.

-

Duncan was actually kind of disappointed they couldn’t stay longer on Playa des Losers. He’d been having a great time without any adult supervision. And no, he wasn’t the hugest fan of some of the other people he had to put up with, but anything was better than going back and having to see his family. He hadn’t won the money and as of yet he hadn’t won the girl, so going home felt a little like failure. Staying here felt like freedom.

Courtney hadn’t exactly been avoiding him since he forced her to listen to him in the elevator, but neither had she sought him out to tell him how much she wanted to be with him. Still, he wasn’t discouraged yet. They had one more day here, and a lot could happen in a day. Chris was supposed to be showing up at any moment to tell them about the “special surprise” he had planned. Duncan figured he’d enjoy what little time they had left by partying up. He was dancing by the pool when he felt Courtney’s icy glare settle on him. Seriously what was her problem?

“Ew. Duncan, stop it!” she said in disgust. Duncan did stop, but only so he could smirk at her. She was the one who walked up to him after all, so she must want to talk to him.

“Why so uptight hotstuff?” he asked. “What happened to that crazy chick who helped me raid the camp kitchen?” he said, immediately resuming his dancing. Courtney continued to glare at him with her arms folded.

“I’m over this stupid show!” she huffed. “I lost the competition, my pathetic lawyer lost my lawsuit and now I just want to go home, study for my LSATs, and work my class president campaign!” Duncan raised an eyebrow at her. She was seriously so lame. Why did he like her again?

“Wow, hello downer! Come on, relax, it’s almost over! I thought you’d be happy,” he shrugged.

“I _am_ happy!” she cried in frustration, causing everyone around to look over at her. Duncan rolled his eyes as everyone else went back to their business.

“So was there something you wanted to tell me?” he hinted.

“No! Why would you think that?” Courtney scowled.

“Well, I was over here, minding my own business and you came over and started harassing me,” Duncan pointed out. Courtney looked about to bite back a snarky retort but was distracted by Chris walking over and placing a silver briefcase at his feet. Courtney and Duncan both glared at him in irritation for interrupting them.

“Hello, campers!” Chris said in a sing song voice, throwing his hands in the air.

“Ah, that’s _ex_ campers to you,” Duncan pointed out, frowning at Chris.

“Yeah, your twisted game is over! Remember?” Heather interjected. Chef walked over with the huge cheque he had just snatched from Owen and Chris whispered something to him and the two of them chuckled evilly. Chris then proceeded to announce there was one million dollars in the briefcase he’d brought with him. And that Owen could either take the hundred thousand or play for the million. Owen chose the million and Chef tore the cheque for a hundred thousand in two. Which meant they _all_ had a chance at getting a million dollars.

Duncan glanced at Courtney and he could see the gears turning in her head. She wanted that million, there was no doubt about it. And so did he. But there was no way they were letting Chris manipulate them again.

“Ah sit on it,” Duncan spat as he followed Courtney over to the buffet. Maybe they could finish their talk. But then again, they couldn’t let _Owen_ win the money.

Everyone decided at the same moment that they were going to go for it, and somehow they all ended up in a huge pile at the edge of the forest. Duncan was at the bottom and he could feel Courtney on top of him, struggling to get free.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea!” Beth said. “Let’s work together as a team! We can split the prize twenty two ways and share it!” Okay, that was a terrible idea. Duncan went back to trying to pull himself out when he felt a small hand close around his wrist and drag him from the pile, only to find Courtney grinning at him.

“Ahhh! Let’s go get that million dollars!” she cheered. Duncan stared at her in disbelief. “Yes!” she cried, grabbing him around the neck and pulling him in for a kiss.

“Looks like someone got their mojo back!” Duncan breathed once Courtney let him up for air.

“Shut up, and follow me!” she ordered, but still gripping his arm “We’ve got a suitcase to find!”

“Sir, yes sir!” Duncan grinned. He was pretty sure this meant what he thought it meant. Courtney wanted him, right? She wouldn’t kiss him and partner up with him if she was still wary about them being together. Duncan got why she had been reluctant, he really did. It must have been hard for her to know he was her soulmate but she wasn’t his. But the fact was he didn’t care about that, he just wanted _her_. And obviously she now realised that too, because things were looking up.

“Can I come too?” Harold called after them.

“No! You’ll slow us down!” Courtney snapped. Duncan kept walking, knowing she’d catch up. What was Harold thinking anyway? Did he seriously think they’d want to team up with him after everything he’d done? There was no way he was sharing a million dollars with that nerd.

-

Courtney knew she was probably making a huge mistake. Trusting Duncan? What had he ever done that had given her the impression she could trust him? She had more to lose than he did. She was putting more on the line. She had more at stake than just a million dollars. Her pride, her reputation, her heart. But what if this was the perfect test? To see if he really meant it? She knew he’d have to be able to handle every side of her if they were ever going to last, and she knew how she could get when she set her sights on something. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for a million dollars. The question was; was there anything Duncan wouldn’t do for her?

-

Duncan had known Courtney was bossy. But this was really something else. She refused to do any of the hard work herself, except for when she decided to fight Izzy, only to find out Izzy hadn’t actually seen the case and was just completely insane. (The fight was totally hot by the way). She had him climbing trees and lifting her onto his shoulders so she could see better and digging holes in case the case was buried. He was starting to wonder if she’d only kissed him in order to get him to do her bidding. The dumb thing was he hardly minded. He even kind of liked it. The crazy side of Courtney was the best side as far as he was concerned, and he’d never seen her so fired up as she was today.

“Chris said the case was wet, and there’s the river, so we must be close,” she mused glancing out over the river as they marched along the banks (anything slower than a march was a waste of time according to Courtney). “Duncan, look!” she grabbed his arm tightly and pointed across the river where Duncan could see that Lindsay, Beth and Ezekiel were wading into the water, just as the case floated right up to them.

“How are we going to get it?” he asked.

“Use this,” Courtney handed him a fishing rod.

“Where did you even get that?” Duncan said wonderingly.

“Never mind that! Just hurry up!” Courtney ordered. Duncan nodded and cast the line out, hooking the briefcase on the first go. “Come on! Put some muscle into it!” Courtney shouted as Duncan reeled in the case. “Spin that reel!”

“Can it, sister, I’m reeling as fast as I can!” Duncan growled back. He finally got the case up, only to have it immediately devoured by an alligator.

“Hey! That alligator just took our briefcase!” Courtney whined.

“What are alligators doing in Muskoka?” Duncan questioned in outrage. He couldn’t believe they’d been so close to the million only to have it snatched out from under them.

“Well, don’t just stand there, go get it!” Courtney shrieked, pointing in the direction the alligator had taken off in. Duncan’s eyes widened. Was she serious? She wanted him to fight an alligator? Sure he was a badass, but this was an _alligator._ Then again it was a million dollars. He tossed the fishing rod aside and dived into the river, spotting the alligator and hooking his arms around its scaly neck. After wrestling the alligator for a minute it finally coughed up the dough and the briefcase landed at Courtney’s feet.

“That’s how we roll in my neighbourhood!” Duncan said gleefully. He swam back to shore and Courtney picked up the case.

“You did it!” she cried happily, throwing her arms around him. “My hero!” Duncan didn’t need validation, he really didn’t. He wasn’t chasing around the briefcase for _her,_ he wanted a share in a million dollars. But somehow those words made his heart swell. And they weren’t something she’d normally say, and he wondered for a moment if she was manipulating him or just trying to feed his ego. But he decided he didn’t care. Because he realised that if it were up to him, he wouldn’t have fought an alligator, even for a million dollars. He would have made someone else do it for him, or just found an illegal way to obtain the money. Things like that didn’t normally _matter_ to him. But they mattered to her and that, strangely enough, mattered to him. That was a rare deal for him. He’d never before put in so much effort for a girl. He realised then, that he might even love her. No, he definitely loved her. Even though she wasn’t his soulmate.

He thought maybe he should tell her. Would that reassure her that he wasn’t about to up and leave her as soon as he found out who his real soulmate was? He should definitely tell her.

“Huh, I’ve had tougher girlfriends than him!” he said instead. “And uglier.” He followed Courtney back in the direction of the dock, where they had to present the suitcase to Chris, but disaster struck when he tripped on a rock and felt his ankle give way beneath him.

“My ankle!” he cried as he went down, gripping his ankle. “Ah, I think I sprained it! Ow!”

“Duncan?” Courtney called back, slowing down as she heard his cries. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t think I can walk on it, you’re going to have to help me,” Duncan groaned as Courtney walked back over to him.

“You know you mean the world to me,” she patted him on the head. It felt nice, but Duncan could feel a “but” coming. “I can’t let you hold me back. Sorry!”

“Wait, you’re leaving me here? But I just wrestled an alligator for us!” he called after her as she took off.

“I know!” she called back, “But opportunities like this don’t just fall out of trees!” Duncan watched her go, and a split second later Courtney was crushed by Izzy. It probably served her right but he couldn’t help but wonder if she was okay. Eva sped past him and Noah strolled past.

“So, your girlfriend turned on you,” Noah smirked. Duncan frowned at him. “Hate to see that happen! Bet you feel like a loser about now, huh? Less of a man?”

“Enough of a man to take your head off, geek!” Duncan growled, grabbing Noah by the leg. Noah shrieked and ran off, while Duncan held onto his shorts as they tore off the skinny freak. He inspected the shorts proudly as Courtney returned to his side.

“Which way did they go?” she asked, rubbing her head. Obviously she was fine.

“Oh, I’m not sure, _honey,_ ” he said snidely. “Let me think about it.” If she thought he was just going to forget how she just _ditched_ him, she had another think coming.  Courtney glared at him. Eva’s harsh voice rang out, reaching their ears.

“Hey, get back here! No on is stealing the money that I stole!” Courtney shrieked, running off after them. Duncan watched her go, grinning like an idiot.

“I love that woman,” he said out loud, before immediately regretting the words. He’d have to do some serious threatening of Chris or an editor to make sure that never made it to air.

-

It didn’t take long for Duncan to figure out his ankle wasn’t sprained at all, just slightly twisted and he could walk on it just fine once the pain subsided. He was a little pissed at Courtney for taking off without him, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and he had a long walk back to camp. He felt betrayed if he was being honest. He’d opened up to her and showed her he could be vulnerable, asking her to be with him, then he’d done _everything_ for her today, including fighting an alligator, and _this_ was how she repaid him? Frankly, he hadn’t known she could be so cold. And yes, his ankle had turned out to be fine. But _she_ didn’t know that. He cursed her under his breath as he walked back into camp.

Duncan looked up to see Geoff, Bridgette, Katie and Sadie standing on top of the diving platform.

“What the heck…” he murmured in confusion. “What are you guys doing up there?” he called up to them. They all pointed somewhere behind him and he spun around to see a large moose flaring its nostrils and snorting at him threateningly. “Oh no,” he muttered, before screaming and running in terror as the moose charged at him. He knew everyone was watching with baited breath as he ran for his life from the angry moose. He ran for the cabin and dived inside, and the moose was a second behind him. He didn’t have time to think as he grabbed a taxidermied moose head mounted on a plaque and chased the beast from the building, mooing at it as he ran.  

“Woohoo! Go honey, go!” he heard Courtney cheer. Like she cared. She was so fake, honestly.

“I’m coming for you next sweetheart!” he shouted back. He chased the moose into the woods, until it must have realised he wasn’t a real moose and it turned on him. Duncan threw the moose head aside and jumped, grabbing a branch hanging above him as the moose charged towards him. When the moose was directly below him, he dropped, straddling the moose and riding it like a horse. It bucked a few times but he managed to stay on. The moose charged back towards the camp ground, heading straight for the dock, and ended up throwing him into the lake.

A split second later he was joined by some of the people who had been standing on the platform or in the hot air balloon last time he checked. He looked around for Courtney but he couldn’t see her in the water. He looked up over the dock to see her climbing out of the vat of green jelly and running towards the showers at the speed of light. It served her right, honestly.

Wait, where was the case? He looked around only to see it being swallowed by a shark. He was so not fighting another vicious water creature today.

Chris walked over to the edge of the dock and looked down at the floating contestants, before announcing that since none of them had actually won, they’d have to compete in season two.

 “Forget this, I didn’t agree to season two,” Duncan asserted.  

“Actually you did. It’s called the fine print. Read it, live it, love it!” Chris grinned, making a heart shape with his hands.

“I hate the fine print,” Gwen complained. Chris then informed the other previous contestants that they would have to stay and watch season two. At that moment, Courtney ran up onto the dock, having washed herself of the green jelly.

 “Wait a minute! I wanna be on season two!” she wailed.

‘Tut tut tut tut! Fine print!” 

-

It was so unfair. Courtney knew she should be on season two. She was the only one who deserved it! She grumbled to herself as she packed her bags, readying for the voyage back to main land. While almost everyone else got to continue their journey and fight for the million (the million which should have been _hers._ She stole it fair and square) she had to sit back and _watch._ She couldn’t even go home, she had to stay in a stupid hotel in Toronto that was apparently close to where they’d be filming. The injustice of it all made her blood boil.

She finished packing and took her suitcase outside where several people were already waiting on the dock for the boat. She spotted Duncan talking to Gwen and walked over to him.

“Duncan? Can I talk to you for a second?” she interrupted.

“I’m kinda busy right now, can it wait?” he scowled at her. It couldn’t wait, but his tone made her flinch and she couldn’t be bothered dealing with him right now. She only wanted to tell him that he passed her test, that he could have her. But she wasn’t about to reveal anything about her feelings while he was being so moody.

“Never mind,” she snapped, and went to stand by herself. He was obviously upset about the whole leaving him for dead thing. But this was just a dumb fight, and he’d get over it, she knew. She’d watch him in season two and root for him, even if they were mad at each other. And when he won the money she’d tell him she loved him and they’d buy a mansion with a hot tub. She was confident now that they could make it together.

Except, when she looked over and saw him smiling and laughing with Gwen, she felt her stomach clench, and she had a horrible thought. Every one knew now that Trent wasn’t Gwen’s soulmate, even though she was his. And she wasn’t normally an insecure type of girl, or jealous, but she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Duncan and Gwen were soulmates, because wouldn’t that just make perfect sense. She burned with envy all of a sudden, and she felt a lump form in her throat, but she wouldn’t cry, because nothing had _happened._ She was being stupid. Duncan didn’t care about soulmates, and Gwen was with Trent, so obviously neither did she. Besides, there was no proof Duncan and Gwen were soulmates, it was just Courtney’s own mind playing tricks on her. But then, why did it feel like a terrible premonition?


	18. You Think You Know Somebody

Trent wasn’t sure of the exact moment it all went wrong. Was it when he started throwing challenges? Was it when Gwen had found out about his lucky number nine? Was it when Owen had pointed out to him in a rare moment of insight that neither Gwen or Duncan had their lines coloured in? Was it when they’d been separated onto different teams? But maybe things had started to go wrong long before that. When his lines had coloured but hers hadn’t. When he’d been tricked into kissing Heather. When he’d accidentally left her buried in the sand.

Maybe he’d become a little paranoid since coming onto Total Drama Action. But who could blame him? Owen was right, it was obvious Gwen and Duncan must be soulmates, and no matter how many times Gwen tried to assure him she didn’t care about soulmates, he couldn’t ignore the little voice in his head that said, _but she won’t deny it._ So she knew. She must know that she and Duncan were soulmates. And really, when he looked back now the only objection she seemed to have about Duncan was that he was into Courtney. Which, in Trent’s mind, was nothing to rely on. After all, Gwen had been into him once, and then she was standing in front of him, trying not to look at the midnight blue swirls that adorned his chest, telling him it was over. It had to be the worst moment of his life. It hadn’t mattered that he loved her and couldn’t live without her.

Then again, he had seen it coming from a mile away. He could feel her slipping away from him as the competition went on and some days he found himself wondering if she was even the same person he’d fallen in love with. Or maybe it was that he hadn’t even really _known_ who she was to begin with. Regardless, he had been willing to do anything to fix whatever was wrong. He truly believed if he just did everything right, he could make Gwen love him and they could be happy together.

He knew he hadn’t been the perfect boyfriend, but he’d tried really hard. He didn’t want anything more than to be with his soulmate, and he’d been waiting to meet her his whole life. How was it fair that in the end he didn’t get to be with her? But maybe it was selfish of him to try and hold on to her when she was destined to be with someone else.

He didn’t even get to say goodbye properly before he was rudely ejected from the competition. And now he was sitting on a couch in the green room, waiting to be called on stage for the aftermath show. He was nervous of course, he knew they were going to ask him about Gwen.

He had been separated from all the other contestants except for Izzy for the one night he’d been staying in the same hotel as them, so he’d spent the whole night crying and writing songs. He wasn’t even allowed to see Geoff and Bridgette, because apparently they were the hosts of this new aftermath show. He wondered how they’d got that gig.

They were talking to Izzy now, and Trent watched her interview on the television screen. His stomach dropped as Geoff mentioned his name, and he knew he was next. _Be cool,_ he told himself. He knew the camera in the green room was on, filming his reactions, but he tried to ignore it.

“Trent is such a stand up guy,” Bridgette was saying. “He did not deserve what happened, right?”

“Oh totally not!” Sadie agreed.

“And all because of Gwen,” Bridgette said sadly. Well, at least someone was on his side.

“Whoa! Back up, Bridge,” Geoff countered. “Couples break up. Wasn’t Gwen’s fault.” That was true too, Trent supposed.

“Trent lost out on a million bucks because of Gwen,” Bridgette pointed out. But Trent wasn’t really worried about that. He cared way more about losing Gwen.

“So? Gwen went behind Trent’s back and told his team to vote him off!” Geoff said. Wait, _what_? Trent was stunned.

“Aw man, what? Are you kidding?” he choked out. “Gwen did _what?_ This is a joke, right?” he hoped. So much for being cool. Deep down he knew it must be true, or why would Geoff say it? Thankfully the camera on him was switched off as Geoff and Bridgette continued to argue over whether he or Gwen was the better person, because he couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. Maybe he’d stupidly held n to some kind of hope that he and Gwen could work it out after the show. But if she’d done something so callous as to convince his team to vote him off… he wondered how he’d ever loved someone so heartless to begin with.

He grabbed his guitar and started strumming, what he always did when he was feeling upset.

“You were everything to me, I just wanted you to see, you were my best friend! We were cool but then…you went behind my back, in the worst kind of attack. Now you’re finally gone! I’m no longer your pawn!” he sang through his tears, not realising the camera was back on until he had finished singing. Great, now they knew he cried.

“Our next guest was unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend and cheated out of a million bucks!” Bridgette announced as Trent got up, ready to go on stage. “Please welcome; Trent!”

Trent ran on stage, bringing his guitar with him, and sat beside Izzy on the couch. As the interview progressed he began to blame Duncan more and more for what happened between him and Gwen. He couldn’t believe Duncan told Gwen his lucky number nine was because of her, and he thought there were probably other conversations between the two of them that Trent hadn’t heard. As far as Trent was concerned, Duncan had been trying to break him and Gwen up so he could have Gwen for himself. It was easier for him to blame Duncan than Gwen anyway.

“Do you guys think I could sing a song?” Trent asked. “It’s something I wrote after Gwen and I broke up.”

“Oh, for sure, Trent,” Bridgette agreed. He began to strum a simple chord  progression.

“You ripped my heart out of my soul. You never text me back, anymore. Now I remember the nights we stared into the sky, but now you make me feel like dirt. And though I never told you that summer girl, you were my entire world. But now you’re gone…” he strummed the last chord and hung his head. The audience cheered, and somehow it made the pain bearable and he managed to smile.

The song also served to help Geoff and Bridgette make up after their fight. Trent was glad. Those two didn’t know how lucky they had it to be each other’s soulmate.

-

Courtney stormed off set as soon as filming was done. Whoever had come up with this dumb idea for an aftershow deserved to be shot. It was bad enough having to watch every episode of Total Drama Action with the others who hadn’t made it on the show, let alone having to then sit through Bridgette and Geoff’s incessant rambling once a fortnight. Courtney felt that she should be on the show, and since she wasn’t they could have at least made her the host of the dumb aftermath. Which was why she had been speaking to her lawyers as often as possible. They may have lost her case last time, but there was no way she was going to lose against Chris and Total Drama again. She was getting on that show, no matter what it took.

And no, it wasn’t _entirely_ because of Duncan, although that was part of the reason. She hated that he was friends with Gwen now, and although she’d yet to see any signs of treachery on his behalf, she didn’t trust Gwen at all, and rightly so if what she’d done to Trent was any indication. At first she’d been on Gwen’s side, if only because she thought Trent was a total loser for purposely throwing challenges for his gross girlfriend.

But now she saw that Gwen had manipulated Trent, dumped him and then stabbed him in the back. And that was her _boyfriend._ Courtney knew the goth would have no qualms about stealing Duncan from her, and it seemed like she’d already started.

Courtney trusted Duncan, as much as anyone could trust a juvenile delinquent. She’d watched all the episodes of Total Drama Island now, plus all of Total Drama Action so far (they weren’t allowed to watch anything else), and she knew he liked her, and _only_ her. But somehow even knowing that he had a picture of her underneath his pillow and that he was still torturing Harold for her, she was worried Gwen was more calculating than anyone gave her credit for.

Courtney cursed Duncan for being so stupid as to team up with Gwen. But she also cursed herself for not leaving things on better terms with Duncan. She still hadn’t had a chance to talk to him, and make things right with him. She hadn’t even seen him since they’d arrived back in Toronto and the contestants of Total Drama Action had been whisked off to the film lot, while the rest of them checked into their hotel. They’d been able to call their parents and friends, and some people had even had visitors. Not Courtney, of course. Her mother was far too busy. She’d even sounded distracted during their brief phone call, when she wasn’t letting Courtney know how disappointed she was that she hadn’t made it further.

Back in her hotel room she turned on the television and watched the most recent episode again. She smiled to herself when she heard Duncan say her name. She was still mad at him, of course, for the whole teaming up with Gwen thing. He was going to get an earful when she finally saw him again. But for now, she was reassured that it was all one sided, and Gwen was fighting a losing battle.

Still, she called up her lawyers again just to make sure they knew how imperative it was that she get back on the show. For the million dollars, of course.


	19. I Can't Have You, But I Have Dreams

Trent was gone, and Gwen couldn’t help but feel relieved. She did feel a little guilty of course, but she couldn’t see how she had any other option in the end. With Trent out of the game she could focus on other guys. Things! Other things. Not guys.

Her relief was short lived however as the other team kept reminding her of what she owed them because of the deal they’d made. She couldn’t even relax on their day off because Justin kept giving her knowing looks and putting her on edge. Gwen wasn’t sure how she was supposed to sabotage her own team without them knowing. She wished she could talk to someone about the whole thing. Specifically, Duncan. He was the only one in the competition she could actually talk to about anything. Except she couldn’t talk to anyone on the team about this. She was pretty sure he wouldn’t understand.

Still, she went looking for him anyway, and found him on a prop bridge, staring up at the stars, a dreamy expression on his face. She wondered for a moment if he was thinking about her. It wasn’t impossible. They’d grown pretty close over the past few weeks. They had a lot in common and Gwen would be lying if she said she didn’t feel a connection between them. Her lines weren’t coloured in, and neither were his. As far as she knew, they were the only ones. And she definitely wouldn’t mind if he were her soulmate.

Duncan didn’t even seem to notice Gwen sneak up beside him. She leaned on the side of the bridge in a similar fashion to Duncan and gazed up at the stars, wondering what he was seeing, hoping she was on his mind.

“Is it just me, or does that constellation look like Harold’s pancake butt? With his spaghetti legs attached?” Gwen asked, breaking the silence. Duncan didn’t even laugh. He must have realised she was there already though because he didn’t seem startled. “See?” she prodded, trying to get a response from him. What had gotten into him? “I just gave you the perfect set up for a dig, and you leave me hanging?! What’s your damage?” Gwen cried, while Duncan just continued to stare up at the stars. And okay, maybe she was trying to be a little flirty, but he didn’t seem to notice that either.

“You think Courtney might be looking at the stars now?” he finally said. Right. Courtney. Gwen had almost forgotten that girl existed. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed. She was pretty sure Courtney and Duncan weren’t together but evidently he wasn’t over her. Gwen masked her disappointment with disgust, sticking her finger in her mouth to illustrate her repulsion by Duncan’s sappy romantic thoughts. She would probably never admit she wouldn’t have found the sentiment so disgusting if it were _her_ he was thinking about, not snooty, stuck up Courtney.

“Wow, who knew you were such a sucker for the A type?” Gwen joked. Jokes would make it better. And maybe bring him out of his love drunk stupor.

“Oh, you wanna make something of it?” Duncan punched her arm playfully. Gwen grinned, rubbing her arm. Success.

“You can do better than that!” she laughed, and Duncan stepped up close to her, laughing along as he pushed her to the ground. She clutched at him, pulling him down with her and her heart was pounding at the proximity. Surely Courtney was the furthest thing from his mind now. Their noses were almost touching as the laughter died in her throat and Duncan became suddenly serious as well. _Oh my god, he’s going to kiss me,_ she thought.

“Hey, Gwen,” Duncan whispered, a smirk playing across his lips.

“Mmm?” Gwen replied, her head feeling kind of foggy.

“You wanna steal everyone’s underwear and fly it up the flagpole?” Duncan grinned. Reality came crashing back around Gwen as Duncan lifted himself off her and held out his hand to help her up.

“Sure, that sounds fun,” Gwen agreed. And it was fun, and it helped her blow off some steam, and it definitely helped her feel better to steal the underwear of the people who were making her life a living hell. But it didn’t take her mind off the fact that she was ninety nine per cent sure she and Duncan were soulmates. She just had to somehow get him to see it too.

-

The worst week of Gwen’s life was finally over. She’d broken up with her boyfriend on international television, gotten him eliminated, made a deal with the devil (who knew the devil was a sixteen year old male model whose ego was bigger than his brain?), had Beth’s retainer in her mouth, been vomited on by Lindsay, sabotaged her own team, hit Harold over the head with a shovel (okay, that part was kind of fun) and eliminated herself. She was then subjected to insults and ridicule by Geoff and some of the other previous contestants at the aftermath show. She had thought she and Geoff were friends, but apparently ratings were more important to him than friendship. Well, good riddance. She’d done her best to appease Courtney’s fears about her and Duncan’s non existent relationship, without actually _saying_ she wasn’t interested in Duncan. Courtney did not seem mollified.

Trent had said he didn’t hate her, which was a relief but she was pretty sure the rest of the world did.

At least Duncan had stuck up for her and had even offered himself up instead of Gwen when it came time for her to get into the lame-o-sine, even if he wasn’t entirely serious about it. Even though she hadn’t got him to admit they were soulmates, she had hope for the future. Maybe he’d win the million and then they’d drive off into the sunset together. Okay, gross she did not just think that.

-

Courtney was seething. Another HORRIBLE Aftermath show. This one was even worse than the one before. Courtney couldn’t stand to look at Gwen, that boyfriend stealing fake goth girl. She had already called her lawyers to let them know she wasn’t wasting another _second_ sitting on the sidelines. Maybe Gwen was out of the competition but Courtney needed to make sure she was out of Duncan’s head as well, and she couldn’t do that sitting in a hotel room watching Total Drama reruns. She was going to get back into the competition, get the million dollars and get her man and no annoying ugly goths, or narcissistic TV show hosts were going to stop her this time.


End file.
